


The Blessing

by Kelkat9



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magic, Angst, F/M, Romance, Sex, Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-11
Updated: 2020-08-12
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:41:10
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 52,942
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25194838
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kelkat9/pseuds/Kelkat9
Summary: Magic is real.It exists even if most humans don't recognize it or dismiss it.  Rose Tyler is one of the magic kind.  Her power was a diviner, a magic tracker, one who finds lost people and possessions.  Until her last case.  Traumatized from an event that changed her forever, Rose has tucked herself away, from the three magic guilds who treat her with suspicion, from her family and the world. She focuses on her garden, the new power welling inside her is grounded in the earth. Except the past has come back to haunt her.A mage, one who has grown beyond the normal technomagic they typically work, has come calling.  He brings trouble she'd like to avoid.  Except, he has an honest need, a lost apprentice who no one can find except Rose.  Donna Nobles' disappearance bears a striking resemblance to her last case and the worst day of her life.Reluctantly she agrees to help the Doctor, a mage with a mysterious tragic past that intrigues her.  An attraction builds she cannot deny. Together they follow a trail of mystery, old magic and evil leading them to Donna and a confrontation with an old foe.
Relationships: Ninth Doctor/Rose Tyler
Comments: 358
Kudos: 171





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hiya, new story. I hope you like it. This will be unbetaed because it's just for fun. If that bugs you then this is not something you will enjoy. Sorry for any issues, the cat was bumping me every 2 minutes so I might have missed something. And the spacing is off. Don't know why. The last fic I posted was fine and I did the exact same process. Oh well.

Magic, a word that often makes humans think of spells, potions, witches and wizards. A fantasy world to escape the drudgery of the real world, paying the bills, going to work, raising a family and living and building a life.

The thing of it is, magic is real.

Most humans, the mundanes, don’t see it or feel it. Oh, they might glimpse something out of the corner of their eye, or stumble into something they spend the next hour or more rationalizing. But those born to it, know the world is so much more vivid, exciting and alive than mundanes accept.

Rose Tyler knew all too well the joy and despair of magic. Some days she almost wished she was as oblivious as mundanes. In the village of Powell not far from Oxford, on the Thames, she lived a quiet, private life. Well, as private as the three magic guilds would allow.

The Mages, arrogant techno wizards, always had spies watching her. The Arcadians, the potion makers and alchemists were less invasive, judgmental and preferred discretion. The Pythia, those bound to nature, couldn’t spy if they wanted to. It was outside their nature to be sneaky, but that didn’t mean they’d casually drop by to see if she needed anything. Right. Rose, the jaded and traumatized outcast knew they all wanted one thing: to control and use her.

Like certain unmentionables had tried. Tried and learned the hard way that Rose Tyler wouldn’t be used by anyone.

Instead, she lived in exile away from guild politics, and most magical folk. It was easy for her to lose herself in melancholy for the Rose she used to be. A simple diviner, a tracker and locater of lost people, pets and occasionally personal items, who dreamed of seeing the world and making it big. That dream crashed and burned after one not so simple case that turned her dreams to ashes.

After the day that ruined her life, she moved to her cottage, on Pyrovillia Lane, avoiding family and friends for their safety; tending her garden, meditating, reading and trying to figure out what to do with her life. That was four years ago and she still didn’t have an answer to that question.

But change was in the air. That was part of Spring after all. As she was in her morning routine, digging in the earth, grounding a simmering power she didn’t want or ask for, that an odd vibration shook the ground. She paused as the sun emerged from behind gray clouds and looked to her pink and yellow roses for answers. Nothing but sweet fragrance and bees enjoying the vibrant large blossoms. Which were a result of magic more than effort.

Clouds stole the sunlight plunging the garden into gray and shadows triggering a memory. Rose dug her hands into the black, fertile earth, fighting back a choking panic souring her stomach. She shoved peonies into the ground as if the act of giving them their place in her garden would erase the pain. Just as the anxiety attack nearly consumed her, her mobile chimed an alert. A visitor at her front door.

She tapped her camera app. A tall man in a leather coat with vivid blue eyes grinned and waved into the camera. The hairs on her neck prickled. She lived in a small village where few tourists ventured. Strangers were rare and suspect. Especially at her home. 

It wouldn’t be the first time she ignored someone at her door. Except, he hit the door chime again. And then again four more times leaning close until she could practically see up his nose. Clearly, he wasn’t going away. Easy enough. She opened the camera app.

“No solicitors and no I don’t need any magazines, subscriptions or handyman services. Leave a flyer if it’s biscuits and I’ll order online.”

Her brusque piss off message was met with laughter, not the fake or cajoling kind either. It welled from his chest in genuine amusement. What kind of mage fuckery was this? And she was sure he was either a mage or working for one. And then he spoke confirming her suspicion. Bloody mage undertones in that Northern burr.

“Not selling. Although love me a nice biscuit. Could ring up for some if you were to I dunno share a spot of tea with me while we talk about why I’m here.”

Well this was a new approach from a mage. Pythia sure, they liked their tea and sweets. But mages…not so much. Rose drew out a pause until he shifted foot to foot. With a vindictive pleasure, she made him squirm until she threw out the gauntlet.

“No biscuits. No entry.” 

“Tough one then,” he responded. “All right.” He reached into his coat pocket to the elbow and squinted before hauling out a sleeve of butter biscuits 

Rose rolled her eyes. It was a cheap trick. 

“Now then, I offer you biscuits from my pocket and a promise. I won’t overstay my welcome and I wouldn’t come all this way if this wasn’t a matter of personal importance, a life at stake,” he tacked on. 

Rose’s first inclination was to say _no_. Except that flicker in his eyes when he mentioned life. Mages tended to be stuck up, arrogant and did more talking than asking for help. And she was fast approaching an anniversary of the worst day of her life, a failure and heart sick moment that scarred her. Maybe she could pay some penance and distract herself. With rules of course.

“I’m not making any promises. And when I say leave, you go.” She tapped her phone and headed into the house.

Disposing of her gloves and gardening apron, she walked down the hall. Jeans, a worn t-shirt and windswept look is what he got. Her trainers made barely a sound on the old wood floors of her renovated cottage, with walls permeated with history, lives well lived and a bit of her including several wards she’d managed to draw and in strategic places in her home. 

She paused at the door. The air sizzled even with him on the other side. An old scent of paper, burned candles and leather seeped into her home. Old mages, the ones not fussing with just technology or surface magic, tapped into that which soaked the earth following ley lines and welling in ancient places. It was one of those places that nearly consumed her.

Rose wasn’t exactly on the mage friend list. Certainly not someone they’d seek out for help. Quite the contrary, she was tainted goods with an infamous past that made them nervous. The fact she stood behind a door that a mage of old earthbound magic could probably blow down like the proverbially big bad wolf, was something to make an outcast magic traumatized witch think about. In the end, curiosity and the fact, she’d said she’d see him won out.

She cracked the door eyeing him expecting a tsunami of power to knock her out cold. Instead, she got…nothing, but a smile and a jacket of biscuits thrust forward. Which she took and held to her chest. 

“Thanks. So, who do I have to thank for this visit?” she asked and allowed the door to creak further open. He kept his eyes lasered on her. 

“I dunno, how about we chalk it up to my love of research, a bit of instinct and curiosity. Can I come in?” 

“Who am I letting in?” She repeated, slightly annoyed.

“That’s a loaded question and you know it.” 

“Listen mate, you came here so you know who I am. I don’t let just anybody in, biscuits bribery notwithstanding, until I know who wants into my home.” 

“Fair enough,” he nodded. “I’m called the Doctor and that’s as much as you get out here.” 

Something in the back of her head itched. A mage called the Doctor was somehow familiar yet not. Curiosity killed the cat but satisfaction brought it back and she needed to know, to get that satisfaction of knowledge. She stepped aside.

“For this day, till the sun sets you may enter.” A slight creak in the walls punctuated as the Doctor stepped across her threshold. His lips lifted in a slight smile as he looked up as if he expected the house to cave in around him. 

“Thanks.” He nodded as his frame filled the high-ceilinged entryway.

With one measured look she shut the door and waved him ahead of her. No way would she turn her back on him. Rose guided him down the hall through her kitchen into the airy glass enclosed sun room. 

“Have a seat. I’ll be back with tea. She dropped the biscuits and backed out of the room.

Energy raced in the Doctor’s veins. Rose Tyler, the dangerous outcast whispered about in various clans and covens across the world didn’t fit the picture painted of her. 

Blonde hair, whiskey colored eyes, casually dressed with the scent of fresh earth about her was hardly the dangerous all powerful being he’d heard about. He wondered if she knew how the Mages Guild had spies watching her home, recording energy readings, taking soil and air samples waiting for her to rain terror and doom. 

She seemed at odds with how she was regarded in the high old halls of magic. He took in the sunroom not like he had the outside of the house before he approached and assessed it was more than met the eye. Wonderfully restored stone and masonry-built cottage and warded beyond anything he’d ever seen. Even his own family home that housed generations of the Gallifrey line of mages. This was someone who was hiding something or herself, living in paranoia and fear. But of what?

Mugs plopped onto the wood table shook him from his analysis. Sniffing his tea, he watched her cradle the mug. Golden brown eyes stared at him over the deep blue rim. 

“Strong English blend” he announced. “Cream, local dairy, grass fed, sugar and a touch of lemon.” 

He sipped, swirled it across his tongue and tasted nothing other than a well brewed cuppa. 

“You know everyone’s taste in tea or am I special?”

“You’re not that hard to read.” She responded and sipped her tea. 

“Wanna share with the class? He leaned on the table ripping open the packet of biscuits and popping one his mouth before continuing. “Not one to reveal much me. Pride myself on it, keeping things to myself.” 

She nibbled on her own sweet treat before answering.

“You pulled biscuits out of your pocket and not just any generic kind but Partridges butter biscuits that scream strong tea with a bit of lemon and cream. The sugar’s to keep your disposition on the civil side. Want to tell me why a mage of your caliber is asking me for help?”

Still not threatening but she definitely had sharp observation skills and a way of challenging him and, keeping him on his toes he found invigorating. Time to test if her magic abilities matched her keen assessment skills.

“This doesn’t involve the guild which I’m only loosely associated with. In fact, let’s say we keep this private.”

She sat back running a hand through her hair and sighing.

“Look, I don’t need trouble with the guild. You’re here and you know my status.” She leaned back arms crossed, and face set into a hard mask.

“My apprentice, Donna Noble has gone missing. I can’t find her. And I need your help.”

“So call the police? Or I dunno, go visit one of my former associates, Shareen’s got a talent for finding missing people. Her scrying is almost full proof.”

“This can’t involve the mundanes and scrying turned up nothing.” Much to his frustration which he hoped help convince her.

He watched her tap her fingers on the table. She didn’t wear any jewelry other than gold hoop earrings. Her fingernails were still crusted with dirt. He hoped that was a sign some of the rumors were true about her earthbound talents.

“And you don’t want any of the guilds involved, right?” she reiterated.

“Yes,” he answered simply and munched on another biscuit waiting for her to ask the question he dreaded.

“That means your apprentice went missing doing something off the books and possibly illegal. God, and you came straight to me. I don’t need any more trouble.”

“No trouble. As long as we keep things between us. This has nothing to do with the guild. Donna’s not like you think. A bit of spunk and attitude but not part of that arrogant lot. She’s an archivist. Her talent is sort of like yours. She can touch a book and know more than what’s written, she senses the author, the readers, their emotions and everything from where the paper was made to where it’s from. We designed a scanner tuned to Donna so that she can easily record the vital data of each book, especially historic texts. Her specialty is old English inscriptions, scrolls, tablets and druid artefacts. She was traveling to consult with a Professor Yana at Oxford to ask about an inscription on a very old tablet dating to the first century written in an unusual language.”

The moment he mentioned druid, Rose stilled and stared off to the side at her garden. 

“And Donna disappeared after meeting with this professor?” she asked, tracing her finger around the rim of her mug.

“As it turns out, there was no professor Yana and there’s no video record of her making it to the campus. They only clue I have is that she texted me a picture of a few symbols before she disappeared.”

“Where is this tablet?” Rose asked, fidgeting, arms wrapped around herself like she was chilled which was at odds as she sat in a sunny spot. It worried him.

“The tablet is locked in a vacuum sealed archive which no one has access to without a security code.”

“Which you have,” she asserted, a bit on the harsh side. Sort of like Donna.

“I gave it to her. I never thought much about it. It was just research and she wasn’t the first to study those tablets. When I couldn’t find her, I retraced her steps, hacked phone and cctv records. Best guess is she disappeared sometime after leaving her flat. I went over and didn’t find anything, no sign of a struggle or incantations, nothing.”

“And her family?” Rose asked slowly.

“Nothing.” He left out the fact that her grandfather was a disgraced mage who was watched as heavily as Rose. 

“And why are you doing this and not them?” All the right questions and there was no getting around it. She was what he needed.

“It’s my fault. She’s my apprentice. I knew she was working on this project to prove herself to the Guild and me. I should’ve been more involved, gone with her. It’s my fault and I need to find her.”

Rose looked down and shoved her mug back and forth on the table.

“We all bear blame for something,” she conceded with a heaviness in her voice he recognized. “Even your apprentice. So, you’re saying the Guild knows you have an apprentice but not what her project was?” 

Her skepticism was valid and now he had to admit the gritty truth.

“I’m not authorized to take on an apprentice. Associate members can’t do that. She was rejected by full members ‘cos her family’s not in good standing. Rubbish reason. Wasn’t exactly looking for an apprentice, but Donna doesn’t take no for an answer.”

“This just circles the pit of the howling and nothingness.” Rose shook her head. “All right. You tried scrying and that didn’t work. Who else have you talked to?”

“Trackers off the grid of the Mage Council. Got nothing. I tried some black-market contractors who tried personal objects, Psychometry; tried a séance to look in the spirit world, contacting her dead father with nothing. None of the location spells worked. It’s like she vanished from the Earth but isn’t dead.”

Rose pushed back her chair and began pacing the length of the room, pulling a talisman out of her pocket. Now that was interesting. She didn’t wear it where it could be seen and for good reason if it was what he thought. Pewter, round with circular symbols. It was on the tip of his tongue to ask where she got it when she turned to him.

“This isn’t a typical missing person case. You said she was doing this for personal reasons, to get into the guild so she’s not running away. Did her family have money or social standing?”

“No. And there’s not been any ransom either”

“Boyfriend?”

“No!” he jumped up from the chair. “She’s a friend, an apprentice and—” he trailed off s the way she gave him the best idiot look.

“Ah right, that’s not what you meant. Not that it’s any of my business but no, she wasn’t dating anyone. Donna devoted everything to this project.”

“Then, that’s why she’s missing. Show me the picture of the tablet Donna texted you.”

Caution made him hesitate. Something on this tablet triggered events to spin out of control and he didn’t understand what it was yet. 

“Why? Don’t you need to touch something or someone to find her? This image is just a digital picture and one that the Guild has kept in a secured vault.”

“Well there’s your answer. The super-secret mage vault of evil objects.” As much as he enjoyed her dark sense of humor, he still needed help and assurance.

“Seriously, you’ve got to give me something to work with. I don’t do this type of thing anymore for just anyone, and not without the facts. I did that once before and it cost lives”

That sounded more like what he heard but not why and by the stubborn tilt of her chin, she wasn’t going to give him any more tine unless he pushed his case.

“Give me your word you won’t tell anyone, you’ll keep this between you and I. No outsiders and no guild.” He wouldn’t budge without her promise. Like her, he’d had bad experiences with things getting out of control too fast.

“Fine I promise, now let’s get on with it. I have to trim the lemon trees.” Bravado and irritation oozed from her. He had to go with his gut on this one. 

He puled out his mobile and hit the hologram app. Her reaction was instantaneous. She backed away and started drawing wards in the air until his phone nearly melted.

“Get out. I rescind my welcome. I can’t help you and don’t want your trouble near me. Now go.”

He couldn’t even respond as an invisible force, a pressure dragged him to the door which opened until he was tossed out landing on his arse. Well that was an interesting tea. 

He still didn’t think her dangerous. Not like him. Frightened yes. Hurt absolutely. No question she was his best hope to find Donna. And now he had to find a way to convince her to tell him what she saw. At this point, he’ll pay whatever she asks and he has quite a lot to offer. 

He stood up and brushed himself off eyeing the Tyler cottage. The Doctor was nothing if not tenacious. He’d be back. He won’t allow Donna Noble to remain lost as long as he still breathed air. And he’d be breathing air for a very long time whether he liked it or not.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you everyone for all the kudos and comments. Hope you continue to enjoy this story.

The moment the front door slammed shut, Rose ran to the kitchen, gulping air over the sink. Fuck, she should have known better. Those symbols, the runes, practically whispered the end the world just on their own. Like they were four years ago. Etched beneath her that fateful day she’d unleased pure bioforce on the Skaros.

And he just sat there. Idiot or calculating mage?

She grabbed a glass and a bottle of whiskey, her mate Mickey had sent as a house warming. She nearly shattered both when she banged them on the white tiled counter. Her throat burned with a good drag of liquor until her knotted stomach became a volcano. Deep breaths. She fought back against clawing panic at what the Doctor described.

Bent over the counter, she shoved the glass away, and focused on battling back memories. But not just memories, sensations, fire in her veins, euphoria filling her with a foreign surge of power. Memories collided of time, earth and wind swirling around her, and then, fire had torn at her physically and psychically. 

Shoving her head under the kitchen faucet helped shock her out of it before the house burned around her. But the essence of the panic attack lingered. Just like the leather scent of the Doctor. Or whoever he really was. Bloody mages. 

It wasn’t like she didn’t know they lurked in town, spying on her. The nosy gits probably thought she didn’t know. Like that was possible. That was part of her burden, knowledge of life energies, especially the enhanced kind flaring up around her. Not quite the same as the day she plunged into the black blood of the Earth. She shuddered at that thought. But it haunted her, burdened her, this thing she didn’t want or ask for but was thrust upon her.

She’d been told by a Pythia about primeval veins of the energy that held this world together. Many people had the ability tap into it. Some burned. Some went mad. And some figured it out the terrible cost and had to live with it. Like Rose did. 

Of course, being a Pythia, she’d tried to convince Rose to accept her fate. Not run or hide. That if Rose didn’t, nature, and the universe would force her as part of the balance, that lucky her, was now part of her duty to defend and protect. Bollux. 

All Rose ever wanted was to help, use her innate talent as a diviner to find things like lost puppies, children or find a new spring. Not manage the bloody natural power vortex. 

Which led her to the current issue. The Doctor. He said he wanted help finding his apprentice. But that was a cover. Rose was sure of it. Mages like to collect knowledge, specifically about the bioenergy they couldn’t harness with one of their clever devices. And if they couldn’t control it with one of mechanisms, they wanted wield it through the right biologic receptacle. Like Rose. Like the Cult of Skaro had.

Rose speculated they tried to use this woman, Donna, to do just that. Except they’d lost her. And Rose had a creeping nauseous feeling what happened. Except it shouldn’t be possible. She’d killed Davros and his high accolades leaving the Cult of Skaro in shambles. 

The Mages had stepped in as had the Arcadians, both acting as protectors of humans and passing judgment on her. The only reason she lived was their fear of what killing her might do. And, the fact the Pythia stood up to them pointing out Rose was innocent and rid the world of the cult. It shouldn’t be a surprise a mage had come to dredge up the whole mess. Rose should report him to the Pythia and Arcadians. They’d love a reason to stick it it to the Mages.

She pulled out her mobile, contemplating the pros and cons. Pro, the Arcadians would love to get in the mages face and dig into super-secret mage business. Cons, it would drag her into their mess, and then, there was Donna Noble. 

Rose didn’t know the woman, but if Donna was anywhere near the Skaros, her life was in danger. That left one choice, Rose would do some digging without Mages, Arcadians or Pythia in the way. But not that day. 

She needed rest, mediation and a clear purpose. On that note, she went to the garden to see if her herbs, flowers and the creatures who lived there could help her find peace. Of course, peace was a lot easier with chips. Nothing healed old trauma like fish, chips and a nice ale. A quick ring to the Tooth and Claw and lunch was on the way.

Her delivery person, Lynda with a Y, was wonderfully normal and didn’t seek anything other than a tip.

“Here ya go, Rose. Mrs. MacLeish added in a slice of her apple cake and said to thank you for the lemons and that vanilla extract.” 

“Glad she could use it. Everything okay at the tavern?” Rose opened the Styrofoam container and inhaled the glorious scent of fried potatoes.

“Yeah, getting a lot of tourists lately. Guess they’re here for the boat races. Rose looked up at that and didn’t believe it. 

“Well that’s good for business I suppose. Just be careful. You know how us Londoners can be.” Rose slipped a few notes to her always cheerful friend. Ah to have no worries other than serving chips and flirting at the pub.

“Yeah right. Well, Have a good night.” Lynda waved and took off down the street. 

Unfortunately, when Lynda crossed the road, Rose didn’t miss the Doctor waiving and holding up a coffee. She slammed the door.

The next morning, after doing a bit of research on Donna, Rose rolled out her bicycle for a trip to her friend Martha. Dr. Martha Jones to be formal, a healer of great respect in the village of Powell. And an herbalist known for organic remedies. Of course, Rose knew her as more as an alchemist for those with untraditional needs.

When Rose visited the local chemist, she’d met Martha and recognized her unusual purchases. At first suspicious, she soon found Martha to be similar to her, loosely associated with the Arcadians, but still mostly outside of the various guilds of magic. 

And Martha had been just as suspicious of Rose until both bonded over a common need one night. Martha’s cat. Vanished for days, Rose easily found her…with kittens. Two of which inhabited Roses’ garden, Kohi and Noor. Not quite your typical cats with a chameleon like ability to mimic the foliage.

Early morning, there were few people on the streets. At least those that were obvious to see. Mages were about. Weren’t they always. None ever dared approach her. Except the one yesterday and Rose felt a prickle on the back of her neck, he was still around. 

She stopped at the coffee shop for take away for her and Martha. And lo and behold when she arrived at Jones End Remedies, who should be there. 

“Good morning!” the Doctor called out, on his knees, pulling his hands out of one of Martha’s distilling devices which now hummed and issued forth a puff of steam. “Nothing a bit of jiggery pokery can’t fix.” 

He stood and Rose kept her distance as Martha sidled out. 

“Morning, Rose. Guess you've met my new handyman. The Doctor here seems to have an affinity for mechanics.” Rose didn’t miss how Martha kept a certain distance. She was no fool and knew a mage when she saw one.

“Thought Mickey as the only one allowed to tinker,” Rose said, eyeing the Doctor’s manic grin as she shoved her bag of banana muffins at Martha. 

“I heard you two have met.” Martha sighed. “I just got the shop in order so take it outside if you're inclined to row. I have a business to run.”

Rose grit her teeth. The mage wasn’t going to let it go. 

“Yeah we met. A bit unfortunate and dangerous. His kind always are. Might be bad for business.”

“Or very good for business. Always about helping, me. Are those banana muffins?” he asked lightly.

Martha may fall to his charm and let me do his mage magic in her shop, but Rose still remembered what he showed her, what he pretended to not know. She wouldn’t be used. 

“Martha, looks like you’re busy. Got my order?” Rose decided ignoring him was the best plan.

Martha whipped her head back and forth between Rose and the Doctor as he nonchalantly tossed a pen-like wand in the air.

“I couldn’t get everything in,” Martha finally responded, standing next to Rose like she was ready to yank her friend to safety. “The compost activator, Pooshian Oil and the extrapolator part are all back ordered. 

“Sounds like you’re having trouble with irrigation and a shimmer to keep everything looking natural for the locals,” the Doctor commented and pocketed his wand. “Pooshian oil’s good for a convection heating system that also works to deter negative energies from coalescing around your property. Might be able to help. Could show you I’m not after what you think.”

Her first inclination was telling him to piss off, and how her supply order wasn’t his or his mage friends’ business. She wasn’t breaking any human, or magic realm laws. They had no reason to investigate her. Even the thought she had to defend herself spurred a need to irritate the mage.

“You think you know me, do you? What does the big mage brain tell you about how I’ve assessed you?” 

“You think I’m one of the arrogant lot that passed judgment on you, tarnished your name and didn’t admit how much you did for everyone.”

“I did nothing,” Rose quickly responded. 

“I think you saved people and got hurt for your trouble,” the Doctor said, not backing down. “Don’t know the details or the extent. But deep down you’re a good person who’s hiding and hoping it all go away. But it won’t. And you can’t trust anyone so you keep barriers around yourself. I know what that’s like. So I’m offering you my services, to show you I’m being honest and I need your help.” 

And now he’d thrown down his challenge. Fuck but she wanted to rise to the occasion. Maybe it was the upcoming tragic anniversary she didn’t want to think about. Or, the fact that she’d been locked away too long and was geared up for a mage pissing contest from the safety of her village.

“And a day of handyman services is supposed to show me that?” Rose didn’t hold back. Martha intervened. 

“Why do you need Rose’s help?” 

Martha Jones was a star. Rose hadn’t confided many details but enough for Martha to understand. Martha’s own family had gotten chewed up in guild politics so she had little love for any of them. And Rose’s ex and childhood friend had fallen arse over kettle for Martha thus keeping him safe from anyone who might use him against Rose.

“He needs help ‘cos he lost an apprentice and no one else can find her.” Martha moved closer to Rose. “Seems like she was in the thick of black magic and hiding it from the guild’.” 

“No,” his voice deepened with a touch of mage power shaking bottles in the shop. “Donna wouldn’t do that, not willingly,” he defended. 

“You willing to swear to that?” Martha asked, reaching into her long white coat for what Rose was sure was some defense potion.

This was so not how Rose wanted to spend her morning. The front door and fleeing any more controversy tempted her. But Rose stood by one of the few friends she had.

“Martha don’t.” Rose made sure she stood shoulder to shoulder with Martha.

“He’s in my shop and seems like he’s stalking my friend. We don’t need any more mages skulking around the village.” 

“I don’t skulk,” he crossed his arms, black coat stretched tight and shifted his feet, clearly insulted. “We’re wasting time with this chin wagging, while Donna could be hurt.”

Martha looped an arm through Rose’s and tugged her behind the counter. 

“I don’t get a sense of ill intentions. Maybe you should help him,” she said in a lowered voice, still keeping an eye on the Doctor who watched them. Rose leaned into Martha’s ear and glared at him which he seemed to find amusing.

“You didn’t see what he showed me. It was the same as when I was in Cheem.” 

Martha pulled Rose into a hug. “I’m sorry.”

“So am I. For his apprentice and all of us. And before you ask, I did some research into her and she’s not listed in any of the dark affiliations. She’s a librarian plain and well, normal. It looks like she’s an innocent caught up in something bad. He’s certainly putting off all the warning signals. Brings images into my house from evil incarnate and he’s hiding something.”

Martha turned a penetrating gaze at the Doctor, who with a furrowed brow, took apart Martha’s electric kettle. 

“He seems to have good intentions,” Martha assessed. “But I agree, he’s hiding something. So, what are you going to do?” 

“I dunno,” Rose sighed and ran a hand through her hair. 

“Put him to work and watch him.” Martha it seemed had made up her mind about him. “See if he’s legit and get some intel on what kind of mage he is.” 

“Are you kidding? I’d have to let him in again, and I nearly blew up the house last time when he did his mage thing.” 

“You won’t.” Martha squeezed her shoulder. “You’re stronger now and no one makes Rose Tyler do anything she doesn’t want. And it sounds like this apprentice needs you.” 

As if there were any question on that. Rose realized deep down Martha was right. The moment she started researching Donna, she’d already ticked the hand of fate in one direction, of helping the woman. Which meant one way or another she had to deal with the Doctor.

“Well Doctor, I suppose if I don’t deal with you, you’ll just keep hanging about, you and your mage friends.” Proactive taunt and taking the mick out of him seemed the best approach.

“Short answer yes,” he set down the tea kettle. “And don’t have many friends, me. And none of them here,” he answered.

Rose grabbed her coffee and muttered, “Be at my place in an hour and be prepared to work and that doesn’t mean on me, or anything about me. Just the job I give you. Then we’ll talk about your apprentice. And if you tell anyone about this, I’ll deny it.” She didn’t wait for an answer, grabbing a bag of goods from Martha and fleeing. Her bike loaded with her purchase, she took the long way home to burn off anxiety about agreeing to help him. Ancestors help her, she hoped she hadn’t just cursed herself further.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again everyone for reading. This is a slow burn but starting next chapter, Rose is definitely looking :)

The Doctor wasn’t much of a planner. But he needed Rose. Judging from her violent reaction to the Runes, Donna was in even more trouble than he feared. He couldn’t trust the mage guild for help. Especially not with Rose. He suspected they had an agenda where she was concerned. 

Now that he met her, he could see why. No doubt, she was brimming with bioforce and an old Earth magic few of their modern kind wielded. And he should know. He’d been touched by it as well. A fact he kept secret from everyone. But Rose didn’t have that luxury and he needed her and her abilities to help him. 

Unfortunately, she tossed him out on his arse. Not the first time that had happened to him. He needed another approach. Statistically, if he stayed long enough in Powell, Rose would cross his path, or he hers. The Doctor didn’t believe in fate, accidental meetings or coincidence. The natural world didn’t work that way, at least not for their kind. Statistics, small village population and area factored into Rose’s eventual need to leave the house, was what he counted on.

Martha Jones had been his solution. A witch as clever as Rose would gravitate to the local apothecary. Although, Martha had sussed him out and put him on the spot not unlike Rose. He enjoyed the challenge and how both women made him earn respect. Which led to his current stroll down the brick lined streets of historic Powell.

He’d offered up his services along with a good dose of charm. If it took a bit of tinkering to convince Rose he was harmless, he’d do it. It wasn’t like he didn’t enjoy odd jobs. It’s just they were usually a bit more academic or world saving.

Luckily, Martha seemed willing to give him a chance. She revealed Rose was mostly a shut in but enjoyed a nice pub meal. Followed by a warning that crossing Rose was crossing her. Given he’d gotten a whiff of itchalot potion, he decided not to test Martha’s good will.

He arrived at Rose’s garden loaded with culinary bribe. 

“I bring sustenance from the pub!” he called out to the wrought iron garden gate which swung open. A welcome change from the prior day. 

The slight pressure and resistance to his physical body as he crossed the threshold revealed more about Rose’s abilities. He looked past his doc martens to the gravel mixed with rock salt. Clever and good insurance against guests who misbehave. Which he would certainly not do. 

He found her beyond a thick rhododendron hedge and an arched trellis trailing with grapevine. She stood in jeans, t-shirt, hands gloved as she potted some rosemary. 

“You can leave your bribe on the table. There’s lemonade if you’re thirsty.”

Definitely a change from earlier and it raised his suspicion.

“Thanks. I think,” he eyed her smile. 

“You might not say that after you see the list.” She waved at the table keeping a good couple of meters between them as she set her pot on a work bench lined with similarly potted herbal plants. 

“I heard you supplied the local florist.” He picked up the list biting back a grin. She was testing him. 

“The water pump’s acting a bit sluggish, maybe muck out the lines; spread fertilizer; trim back the mandrake. A bit tetchy that.” He recited before continuing down the long list. “Turn the compost pile. Tune up the extrapolator and test the electromagnetic resonance of the shimmer around the property boundary. Could take more than a day,” he noted, eyeing her watching him as she tossed off her gloves. 

“Depends on you doesn’t it. You say you’re not stilted like the others in your guild. Seems like you got the moves for hard work. So show me your impressive mage moves, Doctor.” 

Nothing juiced up his determination like a wholesome altruistic challenge laced with a slight thump of his ego. 

“I’ve got the moves, Rose Tyler, just you wait.” He poured a glass of lemonade and gulped the sweet but tart mix, in one long drink. 

He laid his coat on the table, rolled up his sleeves, “Mind of I start with mandragora. Been ages since I had good chat with a snapping purple flowered nightshade.” 

“Have at it.” Rose walked by him, a cocky sway to her hips as she dug in the bag. “Curried chips. Someone ‘s starting the day on the right foot.” She sat down and arched a brow as she popped a chip dripping with curry in her mouth. The Doctor cracked his knuckles and went to work.

He couldn’t miss how much organic magic infused the garden. These were not cheap tricks, charms or other imported alchemy. Rose Tyler was the real deal. She’d planted magical roots here, worked the ground, calling to the life embedded deep within and fostered each spark of life. He doubted any garden had roses as lush, the soft pink almost glowing. 

The earthworms and microorganisms in the compost happily did their job. The far larger than normal Mandragora took some persuading. And not the magic kind, quite resistant to anything other than him running his gob and if anyone could outtalk a mandragora to giving up a root cutting, it was him. 

Tinkering with her equipment was like asking a violinist to tune a Stratovarius. His fingers tingled as he worked. End of the afternoon, Rose showed up with more lemonade. 

“Not bad. Most people would have collapsed or run away screaming from Maddy.” 

“You named the Mandragora Maddy?” He almost choked on his lemonade considering the formality the very old plant demanded. He refused to admit he had to trade a drop of his blood and recite an old Gaelic poem before it would even take him seriously. 

“Maddy and me get on,” she answered. “We both want the same thing. Peace and quiet.””

“Does feels safe here, maybe too safe,” he commented going back to work on the extrapolater. 

“Meaning?” Rose demanded, arms crossed. 

“It’s an illusion and I don’t mean the garden. That’s real. But you and I both know, sanctuary only goes so far. One day you’ll be forced to leave.” 

“Is that a threat?” 

Maybe he saw things that weren’t there. He doubted it as the trees seemed to creak and groan, their canopy blanketing out the waning sun. 

“Meaning, the humans will notice something off eventually. Whether it’s the oddness, the subtle vibration that picks at their long-forgotten senses to stay away, or how you and this place never change. Or Maybe, it’ll come from our side, those that watch and argue over what to do with Rose who they don’t understand and doesn’t that just annoy the shite out of them. Then again, there’s how you reacted to what I showed you yesterday.” 

“You don’t know anything about me.” And there it was. Defensive but a flicker of acknowledgment in her whiskey colored eyes.

And in that same moment, the Doctor didn’t just see Rose as a tool, or a solution to finding Donna or the salve to his guilt for endangering her. In Rose Tyler, was a reflection of him and his need to run away from the nightmares of his past, his mistakes. And she deserved better. 

If even a fraction of what he knew about her was correct, she was an innocent victim who stood her ground and said no to everyone trying to use her. She made a stand and did what was right when everyone else didn’t. She shouldn’t have to pay for that and by all the magic in the universe, he would make sure she had a way out of her self-imposed prison. 

“I don’t know everything,” he finally admitted, tapping his sonic wand on the extrapolator and wiping his hand on a flannel before he stood. “But I know the person I see in front of me. You deserve freedom, to see the world, lay under the sky and look at the stars without worry of who’s watching and hunting you. I think you know that helping me find Donna, might get you in a better place. Call it working this daft old mage to giving you a hand because you saw something he didn’t.” 

Rose chewed on her bottom lip, scuffing her trainers in the dirt eyeing her garden with a wistfulness he would give all of time and space to feel with her. 

“I know your mages are watching.” 

“Not my mages. Bit of a renegade, me.” 

“Not surprised,” Rose admitted with a slight smile before she nervously tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. “I won’t be intimidated or used. Not like the Skaros did. And we both know what happened to them.” Her voiced caught and his stomach clenched at the way she nervously wrapped her arms around herself. 

“I won’t be a part of that again, not for anyone. And if them or the Pythia or the Arcadians come, they’ll have a fight to get through these walls.” 

“That’s not how they work, Rose.” It cut him to the quick but he had to make things clear to her. 

“They’ll come at you from the sides, through the people in this village, through your family and friends like Martha. They’re ruthless.” 

“Sounds like you know a bit about that.” She conceded and he felt the first bridge of trust solidifying. 

“I do. It’s why I don’t stay long anywhere. It’s why I’ve got to save Donna from whatever or whoever has her. I can’t let her be used, can’t watch anyone else suffer because of me.” His throat closed up at revealing too much. 

Maybe she’d laced the lemonade with something. No, from the softening of her face and posture, he knew she wouldn’t do that. Anyone who’d been used like her wouldn’t do that to another. 

“You make it sound like I don’t have a choice.” 

The spark in her eyes returned. She didn’t give in easy. This Rose had thorns and she wielded them to her advantage. Not unlike him according to Donna. 

“You always have a choice. You can stay here, eat beans on toast, watch telly, garden and enjoy a bit of gossip waiting to see when they come. Or, you can help me, Donna, take the offensive and show them you won’t be cornered or corralled. See a bit more beyond these walls and show everyone Rose Tyler owns her destiny.” 

Laughter bubbled up and she walked over poking at the extrapolater next to him, suddenly unafraid to be inches away from who she once deemed an enemy. 

“You talk a good talk, Doctor. But we both know it’s not that easy.” A butterfly landed on her shoulder and Rose lifted it up with a finger presenting the delicate creature to him. Its wings made a slow graceful movement before it took off landing on his nose. 

“One good sneeze and you could shatter her wings sending her tumbling to her death.” The butterfly flew away but Rose remained, her eyes reflecting a depth and message. “I’ll help you. But under my terms. Donna is the priority. Nothing else. I’m no one’s weapon and I make my own decisions. And you pay all the travel expenses. We start where you last met with Donna. I’ll need something of hers, something important to her that has a dose of her essence.” 

“Got it. Anything else?” 

“Eight tomorrow morning. Bring breakfast.” She turned to walk back the to the house before pausing. “Thanks for today. You did a nice job. Don’t wander from the path to the gate. Might have an unpleasant night.” With that warning and tongue tipped smile she disappeared past a mass of camellias. The Doctor wasn’t often left off balance and wondering, but she’d succeeded. And he found that…. utterly fantastic.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for sticking with this story. This chapter, Rose needs to have a chat with the Doctor and make a connection to Donna. The following chapter will be them investigating. I might not post that chapter until Sunday due to work being a bear and I think it's a longer chapter to edit. I hope everyone is having a great end of week!
> 
> Also, for some reason my spell check stopped working on this chapter so sorry if there's more oopsies than normal. I do edit after I read it on AO3 which for some reason makes all the mistakes more obvious.

“You’re sure about this?” Martha added a ziplock bag of sage and mini bottles of protect and defend potion to Rose’s back-pack. Made of rosemary, lavender, moon bane, witch hazel with a touch of incense ash, if it didn’t protect, at least you died smelling nice.

“I’m not sure of anything anymore,” Rose conceded slowly, shoving a cosmetic bag into her pack before zipping it. “But I can’t do nothing. I’ve got a feeling about this, a not good one. And you know what time of year it is.”

“You sure that’s not affecting your judgment? Not that I’m saying don’t go. From what you’ve said, Donna sounds like she’s in trouble. But you’re my friend and I’m worried.”

The front door chime on Rose’s mobile sounded. Almost like bells tolling her doom, a cynical part of her mused. Rose’s mind was made up and the moment she did, a certainty ticked into place. Maybe it was the grand scheme of the unknown patting her on the head. Good job. Go risk your life. Again. Save lives and try not die. Have a nice day.

If only she had that kind of affirmation and confidence. 

“I’m worried too. Which hopefully will keep me alive.” Rose wrapped her arms around Martha, enjoying the bonding contact. “I have to go.” She pulled away. “Don’t let Maddy give you a hard a time. And don’t wander off the path. Kohri and Noor pretty much see to themselves. But if you’ve got time, they like a few fish fingers to settle them for the night”

Martha shook her head. “You spoil those cats. And that Mandragora’s going to have a fit with you not here. Lucky I’m immune to whinging plants. Don’t worry, I’ll keep everything alive. Just come home, yeah?” 

Rose gave her one more hug before heading to the front door. She dropped her backpack next to her and paused to grasp her Gaia talisman. One deep breath in, and she was ready to face whatever the Doctor plunged her into. He seemed quite at ease when she opened the door.

“On time, I’m impressed.” She commented giving him a once over.

“Breakfast as requested.” He presented her a coffee and a bag that smelled of bacon. 

Rose sipped the gorgeous liquid caffeine, creamy with the right amount of milk. 

“I thought we’d start at her last known location.” He dove in, seeming anxious and fidgety.  
Rose eyed him over the rim of the plastic top. 

“I think we need to talk about how this is going work. Grab the pack and walk with me. She nudged her backpack at him. 

“Your beast of burden am I?” 

“Till we get proper transport. Like I said, we need to talk, and I know a private spot that should work.”

“Your home isn’t private?” He glanced at the door and Martha who shut it in his face. Rose smirked as he poked her wards burning his finger which he sucked and scowled at.

“As you said, your people are watching and I don’t trust they haven’t developed some miniature cockroach surveillance.”

“Wouldn’t put it past them and kind of a genius idea. Could make it if we had time.” Rose refused to acknowledge his attempt at lightening her mood.

“I know a secure spot not even a mage can eavesdrop.” 

“As the lady commands.” He nodded and hefted up her pack. “Blimey what are you bringing, half the house?” He didn’t seem to have any trouble shouldering it. 

“Just a few things we might need. This time I’m going to be prepared.” Her thoughts dove down a black hole of memories. Her steps faltered and she slipped her free hand into her pocket finger pads tracing her talisman. 

“You all right” She shook herself at his concern, shoving demons behind a dungeon door where they needed to stay. “It’s this way.” She said after clearing her throat. 

A mile outside of the village and listening to him prattle on about each fence and tree they passed, Rose stepped into a field of chest high grass before he grabbed her shoulder and tugged her back. 

“No.” 

“Doctor,” she sighed. 

“There’s something off. I’ve felt this itch on my skin before. That spinnin’ feeling where things shift around you, like the turn of the earth, only it’s really you being pulled in. A power vortex.” 

“Not bad, Mage. Normally, you should be nervous. Except you’re with me. I’m the designated driver, yeah. You’ll be fine. Any of your mage friends out there won’t be. It’s private.” 

“I told you they’re not my friends.” He had a lilt in his voice that ended in a sharpness.

Rose paused at this. She had the feeling he would say that. She hated to admit it but she was having second thoughts about lumping him in with mages she’d met before. 

The Doctor was intense, heavy with magic, but not showing it off. The only technomagic he used, was his wand. Nothing of the pulsing life energy he oozed. Like he didn’t want to acknowledge it. Familiar. Like his worn black leather coat. Just as much armor as the bright blue one she wore. Both of them were battle worn, and that worried her. Was he stable enough for what they’d face, or would he go all power mad mage on her?

An innocent life hung in the balance. For now, she gave him a chance to prove he wasn’t power hungry mad mage. She put her used coffee cup into her pack which she took from him and shouldered before reaching for his hand. 

An odd warmth slid up her arm the minute his fingers slid through hers. She did her best to ignore it. 

“If we’re gonna do this, we’ve got to give each other a bit of trust don’t we?” She hated to be the first one to say it, but it was the truth.

“Yes, we do.” he admitted, his voice softer and he squeezed her hand. Again, she fought back a response, like that flush on a first date. The possible end of the world was not a date. For most people.

“Do you trust me to lead you through this?” 

“I do trust you. It’s what’s out there I don’t trust.” Again he peered into the tall grass swaying in the breeze, dancing to a ryhthm Rose knew all to well. A slow smile curled her lips. 

“Power isn’t bad Doctor. It’s what you do with it, how you react, embrace or channel it that makes it destructive to you and others.” 

Whoa, he turned on that bright smile and sparkling blue eyes mixed with an infectious manic energy. Not unlike what whispered and pooled in this field.

“I like you. Rose Tyler. Lead on.”

Erecting her best do not get attached to the mage no matter how charming he was wall, Rose shouldered through the grass. It tickled her cheeks as they were enveloped in a sea of green. The warmth of the sun intensified as they trudged onward. A buffering sensation enveloped them against the outside world until there was only the sweet smell of grass, chirps and trills of crickets and the ever present soft whisper of power and life.

Rose operated more on sensory guidance than visual. Tuned into the natural environment, she felt the subtle vibrations of insects and worms burrowing in the ground and the slight sizzle against her skin at subtle vibrations no normal human could feel. 

The Doctor’s hand stayed firmly gripping hers as he trailed behind her remaining oddly silent. Although she caught him peering deep into the thick grass a few times. Not nervously, more like a predator. And she wondered about his magic, his abilities. 

Most mages didn’t understand how they fit in the natural scheme of things so focused on magic through their gadgets and controlling everything. The Doctor seemed more at ease with natural magic.

Rose was no expert but she’d done more than garden these past four years thanks to making the right contacts, some of them of the slightly illicit variety. She’d learned to accept what was inside her, focus it and allow the natural energy of life to lap against her body and senses beyond what any typical mage would understand. 

Most mages didn’t seem to recognize that one pebble tossed in the right proverbial magical spot, created ripples far more encompassing and ever changing than any of what they tried to control. Then again, that may be why they watched her so intensely. Keeping her locked up was their way of controlling what they perceived as chaos. 

A lightness lifted away paranoia about mages and worry. Her favorite spot was near. The tall grass parted before her.

“This way. There might be a bit of pop in your ears.” 

“I’ve been in a vortex field before. Never seen one as active as this though.” He lifted the hand not clasped with hers watching the grass sway away from him. “Fantastic.” An inner flutter followed, pleased he felt the same way she did.

Rose led him into an opening, a crop formation, the grass flattened in the typical perfect circle. 

“Here we are.” She giggled a the freedom of this place. God, she loved it. Open air, ground beneath her feet, sun and freedom from oppression. She let go of his hand and just stood face upturned and breathed.

“Now I’m impressed.” He pulled out a silver wand with a blue tip. 

“Not here,” she cautioned. .”Unless you want it to explode.” 

He quickly pocketed it. 

“They can’t even mow this place. Any machinery dies. They have to cut it by hand with a scythe. Which doesn’t happen often. The Government owns it as a buffer zone. Officially,” She gave him her best tongue teasing smile before settling down cross legged in the middle of the circle and patted the ground by her. “I’ve been reading up about Donna but I need you to tell me more. How’d you meet, and what’s your relationship.” 

“Are you trying to read me?” He knelt beside her. “Didn’t think that was what you do?” 

“What I do is find what’s missing. She’s not a stranger. She’s connected to you. So go on, tell me how she became your apprentice.”

He peeled off his coat revealing a burgundy t-shirt outlining a lean fit body. Rose was not looking. Nope. She was most certainly not going to enjoy tall, charismatic mage who brought her food, had twinkling blue eyes and a strong cut jaw line and oh no. Mages were off limits. Actually, almost everyone was off limits at the moment. 

He started talking and Rose could tell immediately, he held back facts. 

“I didn’t choose Donna. She chose me. She found me guest lecturing at school in Marbella. Kept following me around. Donna didn’t take no for an answer.” He eventually lounged on his side, all long legs and muscular arms. Like a cat. And just as distracting.

“Like I told you, she has talent for organization and divining books. Archivists with her kind of touch talent are rare in the Mage Guild.”

“You said the guild wouldn’t take her on because family wasn’t in good standing. Was there any other reason?”

“Her talent wasn’t exactly high up in the pecking order. She was considered a low-level talent. of no use to the Guild.”

“Rubbish. Everyone has value. Calling someone a low-level talent’s just a way to gain power, subjugate others and keep control.” Rose insisted, determination to find the lost apprentice firming up as a fuck you to the mage guild.

“Maybe, or maybe it’s fear of chaos, of how much they couldn’t’ keep secret from her. Told, you, she’s good at ancient texts and tablets. How much do you know about the mage guild?” 

Rose bit her lip wondering what he was trying to do. 

“We’re here to find Donna.” 

“That’s why I’m here. Why are you here?” 

She should have expected this. Mages didn’t like anyone prying into their lives and liked to turn things around. It’s what his people had done to her, told her it wasn’t her fault but still laid the blame on her. 

“You asked me,” she reminded him. “To find your apprentice. So help me get a feel for her. Other than her brilliant ability to organize, was there another reason you took her on as an apprentice. I mean considering you were breaking rules, something else must have made it worth your while.”

“You act like I wouldn’t help based on her merit,” he retorted but with amusement.

Rose shrugged. “You did say you were a bit of renegade. Seems like there must have been something more than her refusing to take no for an answer and your interest to stick it to the Guild that made you take her on.”

“Maybe she’s a kindred spirit. A bit like you. And she’s a fierce book witch who so happens to be good at organizing, managing soul sucking bureaucracy and keeping Uni administrators from interfering. Or mages with delusions of grandeur wanting to lay down some new rule on how I taught.” He paused, his long fingers tracing over the flattened grass before Rose felt his gaze drill into her.

“So, she was like your body guard, protecting you from snooty mages.” Rose found that hilarious,

“More like a sister who enjoys taking the mick out of me,” he said laughing.

“Now that I believe,” Rose admitted, as a swarm of yellow butterflies descended around them in a whirlwind of wings. 

She watched the Doctor’s eyes light up. He cupped the small insets in his large hands. Gentle and confident. Rose felt a warmth in her chest. Definitely more than a standard mage. This place reacted to him and he to it. In a brush of wings, the butterflies flew into the fields as if they’d blessed their mission to find Donna. A sign. Which brought her back to the Doctor and why they were there.

“So you took on an apprentice because you liked her spirit, she kept after you and was good at organizing your life.” He snorted.

“You assume I’m a mess.” 

“If the shoe fits.” 

“I know where everything is. It’s a very intricate system.” And now it was Roses turn to laugh.

“I’ll bet you do. So, Donna sweeps in, makes herself indispensable and you can’t say no. She’s your secret project. But she had a secret project as well. That’s a lot of secrets.” 

He scowled and Rose wanted to fist pump on her instincts. Definitely a rebel and perhaps a smidge more trustworthy than any other mage. 

“I’m a mage of the Clan Gallifrey. Does that mean anything to you?” 

Rose’s smile slipped. The Gallifrey family was the stuff of legends. Almost wiped out by the Cult of Skaro. They’d stood the line in the great war over magic on Earth. The Skaros wanted to eliminate the mages and anyone else with magic, be the supreme magic wielders on Earth to control the humans and the whole planet. So many had died, none more than the Gallifreys. 

And they’d faced the Skaros again in the last great human war. Rose was shocked to actually meet a descendant. She reached for his wrist, wrapping her fingers around his sun kissed skin.

“I’m sorry.” Silence stretched between them until the Doctor fidgeted on the ground. 

“That’s why I took her. There’s nothing left of my family. I’m on my own.”

“But now you have Donna… and me.” Rose couldn’t sit and watch the loss carve a whole in his life. She squeezed his hand making sure he knew she was there. And she admitted the irony of her self-isolation when he was the opposite, alone and didn’t want to be.

“We need to get back on track. Time’s ticking and Donna needs help,” he insisted.

“I have a feel for her now. But everything centers around this project of hers. How did she end up finding this tablet?” 

“The project was her idea,” the Doctor confessed and shook his head, shoulders caving in. “She’d found a reference in a journal from some human monk. It led us to some crated artifacts tucked away, forgotten in a corner of the basement at the Mage Archive. That’s where she found the tablets, bundled away in burlap and packing material in an uncatalogued part of the sealed archive. She saw the carved symbols and couldn’t let it go. Thought if she made a big discovery into mage history, it would help her career.” 

“Did you understand what the tablet led to?” Rose watched him intently, one of her hands slipping to her talisman, looking for a sign, a jolt of anything indicating he was hiding information or glamoring her.

“Sort of. The symbols were unreadable but deep down, I felt something radiate off them. They felt impossible. Like they couldn’t exist but picked at me like a dare to find out more.”

Satisfied he was being honest, with no hint of magic, dark or otherwise heating her amulet, she shoved it deep in her jacket pocket. At least she disproved her theory he knew and purposely used Donna. Now to probe a little deeper about this tablet.

“And Donna, did she understand the danger?” 

“Donna Noble eats danger for breakfast and anyone else who tells her no. She’s a force of nature.” 

Rose felt all the blood rush out of her face and released his hand. Bad turn of phrase. Or a sign from the world beyond typical human senses. It welled in her deep in her belly, curled up in a knot. Nature was at the heart of what Donna found. And that meant they needed to move quickly.

“Rose?” he gently prodded.

“Right, got what I needed.” She stood up brushing herself off. “Take me to the last place you physically met with her about this tablet she found. We’ll pick up a trail there.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Full confession - this is a favorite chapter. It's also where the investigating gets going. This will more than likely be more than 10 chapters because I'm a wordy writer. Thanks so much for reading and I hope you enjoy the story.

Finding people was all about connection. Rose had the first wisps of it brush against her senses after talking to the Doctor. In fact, Rose had a good feeling about Donna and the Doctor. Especially when he spoke with such affection about his apprentice who was more a sister to him. If she’d had doubts before, they were gone. Nothing would stop her from finding Donna Noble.

Now that she had a firm grasp of Donna, she didn’t want to delay. It was a long train ride to Farrington, the headquarters of the Mage Guild. Rose set aside concern of heading into the heart of evil magedom, and asked to see the symbols again. 

The Doctor seemed hesitant and she couldn’t blame him. They found a table seat, far from any passengers and he took over discretely warding it. Rose normally would have objected. But now was not the time to argue whose magic was better. 

With the phone sitting on the table between them, she looked at the image, of symbols carved into the gray stone tablet. They burned into her head until a nauseous feeling welled. Sitting back, she pulled a vial of Martha’s peppermint laced remedy from her pack, the sweet elixir helping settle her stomach.

“You all right?” He slid the phone back into his pocket. 

Rose could only nod, still too unsettled by the runes. She ignored him the rest of the trip staring out the window at the passing landscape speeding by, not unlike the whirlwind of power that coursed through the planet. The Doctor wasn’t one to stay still, prowling the car, delivering tea and biscuits, always on the move, and on the lookout. For once, she was grateful. She needed time to think and someone needed to be on alert. Danger existed in so many forms and tended to be impatient.

They exited the train into a gray, dismal day. This time, the Doctor led, and Rose followed. She wanted to roll her eyes at the building he guided her toward in the center of the town filled with historical buildings, many row houses and churches dating back to the nineteenth century. Dull, gray, typical Victorian architecture except with none of the flare one would find in London.

The Mage Archive was as ostentatious as she expected. A typically old stone building with a Greco revivalist edifice. Columned portico with some rather nasty looking gargoyles that were far more than stone. Cursed, transmogrified or something equally worse, their eyes followed any who climbed up the steps toward the main entrance.

Goosebumps raced up her back as they approached the thick oak iron fitted doors. This building oozed magic. Probably the architect. Maybe one of their kind, or influenced by their kind, who designed a ward into the building. The Doctor took her hand and led her past the entrance into a woosh of cool air that was far more than the normal chill. Heavy wards, even more powerful than her home, pressed against her until she felt like she walked through wet cement.

The Doctor squeezed her hand, easing the effect. Even as she was surrounded on all sides by the typical mage symbols in relief work depicting science, astrology and prophetism, she admired the artistry of the mosaic floor and domed ceiling of the rotunda. Gorgeous architecture aside, everything had meaning and not all of it pleasant. Rose resisted zipping up her coat against the typical thick silence and cold air. 

Humans called it musty and ripe with the scent of paper and age. To Rose, it was the power in the books and artifacts that harbored their own magic, even it was subtle and would do no harm to humans who read it. Unless it was in the special collections the Doctor said were tucked away beneath where they stood. 

With a heavy dose of trepidation, Rose allowed the Doctor to guide her past a roped off staircase and headed down. The heaviness pressed inward until her a dizzy spell nearly sent her tumbling. 

“It’s the wards. Meant to keep curious humans from lingering,” the Doctor said softly into her ear. She shivered and not from the dropping temperatures as they reached the subterranean part of the library. 

Ever since they left Powell, the Doctor exuded an aura of sorts, an electrified field that tingled against her skin in a pleasant way. Rose tried distancing herself, shutting herself away but doing that also dimmed senses she’d need to be alerted to any danger. As well as find Donna. Now, she was grateful for that connection.

The Doctor punched in a code on a touch pad by an ominous, if she did say so, metal door labeled Sanctum of Rassilon. It clicked open with a wooosh of air against her face. 

“Sealed for preservation,” the Doctor lectured.

“And to keep something from getting out,” Rose tartly noted, eyeing him fighting a pleased smile. 

“This way.” he guided her down a hall, arched tall ceilings and stone floors echoing their footsteps. They passed a man and woman, who looked up frowning. Didn’t they always frown at her. 

“What are you doing here?” the women, dressed a bit victorian if Rose got it right, long skirt and coat with ruffled sleeves, brown hair tied back in a severe style. 

“Rose is assisting me.” The Doctor didn’t seem impressed at the woman’s glare and pursed lips. 

“Not without a license to access. You know the rules, Doctor.” 

“As well as you, Joan Redfern. And feel free to file a complaint. Miss Tyler is assisting me with a missing persons case and has no interest in anything but the last location of her subject. Now if you don’t mind, time is of essence.” 

The Doctor urged Rose forward despite the demands they stop. They passed rows of glass encased cases holding everything from leather bound books, bound papers, scrolls and a few odds and ends. They didn’t dawdle and soon the Doctor ushered her into a small closet like office. 

A long dark wood table lay before her covered in stacks of papers, books, bits and bobs and one very large monitor. 

“This is it? Your last meeting with Donna was here?” Rose dropped her backpack with loud plop. 

“Far end of the table where you see the empty spot. Donna always brought her own tech to make notes. Rose trailed her finger over the carved edge of the old wood already sensing a warmth evident in most solid wood furniture. Usually the old kind, made by hand. Artists embedded so much of themselves in their work even without realizing it. 

She smelled the oak, oil and essence of sawdust. Beyond that was the typical background noise of nearby objects, the resonance in the building and the people above them in the main library, and a slight rumble from beneath the ground. Maybe they were near an underground tunnel. Mages liked secret passages. 

Trailing around the table to Donna’s spot, she smiled at the chair, worn leather, good back support and she smelled essence of honeysuckle and spice. The image of Donna Noble flared to life in her mind. Yes, this spot screamed Donna. She sat in the chair and pressed her hands to the table. The space around Rose disappeared.

Eyes closed, she tried to separate out the energy signature left behind by Donna from others who occupied this room. It was difficult with the Doctor so close. 

“Can you back up, your presence is all—” 

“Overwhelming, sweeping your magic off its feet,” he teased. 

She cracked open one eye. “Annoying and egotistical. Please back up would ya?” 

“Course, me and my humble essence will shift over a bit.” 

Rose tried to fight back a smile. She had to stop letting him get past her wariness. This was just a job. Settling back into the realm beyond material and physical existence, she weeded through the many threads of life that existed. 

Past the dull, gray ones, the scarlet and black ones, to the ones that represented current life, not old, dead or ancient anger lingering from long ago. Violet and purple tucked away amongst them, tugged at Rose. With a shaky inhale she metaphysical reached for it and nearly passed out, her head hitting the marble covered floor. 

“Ow” 

“Rose!” Strong arms lifted her up. “What happened? Do you need a stabilizing crystal? Something from the Earth to ground and buffer you?” 

Rose stared at him, stunned. Most mages turned up their noses and such things. And then she narrowed her eyes on him and pulled away, stumbling in the leather chair as a wave of dizziness nearly had her crashing down again. 

“What aren’t you telling me?” she leaned heavily on the back of the chair, now more in tune to Donna, getting a bit of her attitude leaching through. “Space man,” she sputtered out and stared at him. His eyes shot wide open.

“How did you?” He didn’t finish his sentence.

“What’s it mean? No scratch that.” Rose pinched the bridge of her nose, overwhelmed by a sense of shouting and a hint of enjoyment. “She enjoys picking at your ego.” A giggle bubbled up. “I like her. She’s fiery and doesn’t give up, or put up with mage shite.” She eyed the Doctor who drummed his finges on the table. 

“You’re picking Donna up all right. So got anything else to share?” 

Rose sucked in a deep breath, doing her best to quiet the chaos in her mind and there was quite a bit of that. Emotions ran high and so did magic. 

“The two of you argued.” Rose placed her hands on the table. “Here. She had something important to talk about and was annoyed at you. It was really important to her. Personal almost.” Rose cocked her heat to the side, trying to discern more but everything was so jumbled and knotted she couldn’t get past it. 

“One of the reasons I took Donna on was how she didn’t give up till she got an answer. Even from me. She’s smart, forceful and detailed. Picked up on what I missed. But that led to her being reckless at time. Wandering off into danger. Drove me batty. Couldn’t see differences in morality and opinions.” 

“Good for her.” Rose couldn’t help but admire this woman she hadn’t even met, but wanted to badly. “She wanted validation,” Rose spoke without thought, shocked at how self reflective that was and wondered if hr own feelings were getting mixed up in this case.

“Yes,” the Doctor answered wth an ache in his voice. “Her family wasn’t the most supportive. Except her grandfather. He’s a retired mage, broke rules and got involved in the human war gainst the Nazis. Helped them win even when ordered to stand down. It ruined him in our world. Lost everything but his life nd family. His daughter never forgave him. It’s why she’s so hard on Donna. She thinks Donna’s wasting her time and is bitter about the Guild denying the Mott heritage. Donna didn’t give a piss what Sylvia thought. She loves Wilf and wants to do right by him.”

Rose nodded absorbing this and developed a renewed sympathy for Donna. “You said her family wasn’t in good standing. Her grandfather was a disgraced mage. Because of what he did in the war.” She drummed her fingers on the table. He’d keep that from her. What else was he keeping secret. “They’re an old family?” 

“Suppose.” The Doctor shrugged. “I’d rather keep Wilf out of this. He doesn’t know Donna’s missing. I didn’t want him to worry.” 

Rose sighed and rubbed at her temples. “Family would help in the process. Their connection is stronger than yours and they might tell us something about her heritage that might—” Rose stopped. Did she reveal too much? Should she tell him? She stared across the table at tomes, papers, and assorted mechanical gadgets like a toaster with parts spread out, and was that an old dvd player? She cleared her mind of the distractions.

“We could find her faster if you were straight with me about what you’re really divining here,” the Doctor acted the inquisitor and Rose rebelled even as he continued.

“I know you don’t want to. Haven’t since the beginning. Something’s got your knickers in a twist, got you jumping and nervous and I can make a guess as to what.” 

“No, you really can’t. And you haven’t been honest with me either. And since you’re so insightful about me, why don’t you know who took Donna?”

“Because I’m not you. Rose Tyler, who survived not just a vortex of power but according to the gossip, survived a conflagration of time, space and natural energy that would have burned any other magical being or driven them mad.”

“Maybe it did.” her voice grew soft and she traced a protection ward on the table that fizzled out immediately, resistant in this place. The Doctor covered her hand with his. 

“It won’t work here. And you don’t need it to.” 

“Don’t I? This isn’t just a library. It’s a vault where you keep your super-secret mage information. They’re probably gathering outside to haul me off. It’s what they’ve been waiting for.” 

“I won’t let them.” Rose saw something flare in his blue eyes, intense and with a conviction she understood.

“They wouldn’t be able,” she informed him with a calm dissociation. “They don’t’ understand.” 

“But you do. And maybe Donna started to, found something that even I didn’t see. So, tell me, Rose Tyler, where do we go from here?”

Rose swallowed hard, a thick band winding around her from him. Not in a binding way or a controlling way, but needful. It didn’t have the fakeness of mage ways, the scientific disdain, calculation or poking at things. He did need her, but Rose had a sense there was more to it. 

It scared her a little. Against all good sense, she felt something different about the Doctor. Maybe it was his Gallifreyan background or he’d gotten involved in some other skirmish he hadn’t revealed. Too many questions and mystery. She had to keep focused. 

“I think Donna was more than you or she thinks she is. Those symbols had significance and someone knew she saw them. Maybe they knew what they were and did to her.”

“You think reading ancient runes affected her?” The Doctor pushed away from the table, looking at the wall of books like it was a cage. “After Donna pulled out the tablet, she was using a special scanner we developed in a clean room. The head archivist caught us. I settled him but he locked up the tablet for further research by what he called qualified mages.” He snorted and a hardness settled into his body.

“We need to talk to her grandfather. Might help if I knew more about her family and where this tablet came from. And I need to touch something personal of hers.” 

“What about the research, the trail that lead to the tablet? Donna took it home.” 

“I’ll look at them but I don’t know if I’ll touch them. We don’t know if that monk’s journal was part of what triggered her disappearance.” 

“You don’t want to touch the tablet,” he assessed. Rose shivered, the image of the symbols burned into her mind. 

“You said it was locked up.”

“If it’ll help Donna, I’m not above a little sleight of hand to gain access.” He held up his wand and grinned.

“I think I’ve done enough accessing here. And I don’t want to get anywhere near that thing. And why do I get the feeling you know more than you’re saying about what it is. You’re awfully eager to go bust in and get it.” 

“I have theories. Ones that give me proper nightmares. Maybe I think it needs to be destroyed.” His voice thinned and his shoulders set, like a soldier. And he was. Rose felt every muscle turn to stone, aching from what she feared lay ahead. The door burst open. 

“Rose Tyler, by order of the mage counsel, you’re under arrest for trespassing in the Sanctum of Rassilon and violation of your noninterference and self-containment order.” The stuck up mage Redfern announced with ever ounce of pompous, vindictive mage attitude. God this was just her day.

Rose eyed the Doctor who stood with every ounce of arrogant mage she’d ever witnessed, along with a bit of an old-fashioned storm, the kind that swept through and uprooted trees, flooding streams and wreaking havoc. She could unleash of a bit of that herself.

“I’m not a bloody spy. I could care a less what you do here,” Rose asserted refusing to be intimidated.

“I told you, Rose is my guest assisting me on an important mission,” the Doctor reiterated.

“Yet there’s no record of any missing person or mission.” Joan Redfern stood by two officious looking mages in long black coats, one smirking male with a sleezy automobile salesman look and the other a blonde woman with piercing brown eyes

“I demand she be charged and brought before the council,” Joan insisted.

The Doctor had enough of Joan’s nosing around and getting in his way and lucky for him, one of the mages beside her was a friend.

“What mission?” Kate Stewart demanded, the daughter of an old friend, a mage of great importance who once helped the Doctor at the lowest point in his life. 

At least he had a chance she’d listen. Although, the Doctor hated to admit he had an apprentice much less reveal he’d lost Donna. He considered it his business, not the council’s. She was his apprentice. 

“Blimey, just tell them. I can’t believe I’m saying that.” Rose’s gruff point hit home. 

“My apprentice, Donna Noble, is missing. No trace of her can be found by the usual methods.” “

“Noble? You aren’t authorized to take on an apprentice, much less one from a family with a record for endangering the Guild and humans,” Joan said, oozing vindictive mage. “That in itself is a violation of our code, one you are bound by even given your limited status. And even a missing apprentice doesn’t excuse a violation of our sacred place with this dangerous outcast.” 

“Why Miss Tyler?” Kate asked the Doctor. 

“Because she’s the only one with experience and talent to find Donna. Her disappearance was related to a research project Rose might have insight about.” 

Joan’s frown deepened. “Even more reason to investigate. We all know she’s unstable, untrustworthy and...”

“She is right here.” Rose launched upward like Hades rising from the underworld. “Truth is I don’t know what happened to Donna yet. I don’t care about your secrets or even what Donna was researching. I do care about finding her. Especially, if she’s caught up in the same thing that happened to me.” 

Silence stretched across the room as the mages locked onto Rose. 

“I think we all remember how that went down with the Skaros. Some of us don’t want to repeat it and would be happier tending our garden and leaving you lot to clean up your own mess. But you seem ready to sit back and do nothing.” 

“How dare you hurl accusations at us! You unaffiliated outlier. You should be thankful we didn’t dispose of you for the good of the planet.”

Rose planted her hands on the table and suddenly the building creaked in response. 

“That’s not an option is it, Joan. That’s why the Pythia and the Arcadians stuck me in the neutral corner. Because I’m part of your existence and all llife on this planet. If you kill me, everything falls with me.” 

The Doctor stood a bit taller. He enjoyed Rose turning the screws on the mechanism that was the great mage order. And she was right. Even if she was exaggerating to take the piss out of them. Or she wasn’t, in which case, he had to have a long talk with her. Not that she seemed keen on listening as she tucked hair behind her ear. 

“Now then, as the Doctor’s guest, I’m thanking you for understanding he bent the rules considering the mess one of your apprentices is in and given how she might be involved in ending the world.” She turned to the Doctor. “You need to take me to Donna’s flat and her grandfather.” 

“Wilfred Mott is not involved in the world of magic. He’s disgraced,” Joan haughtily informed her. 

“He’s her grandfather and a connection. I’m a tracker, a diviner of lost things and people. That’s how I work by touching the place she disappeared from, her personal items and yeah those close to her.” 

“Understood,” Kate inclined his head. “But we have procedures and our ways of doing things.” She arched a brow at the Doctor. “Even if some scoff at them.” 

“My focus was Donna and I didn’t have time for bureaucracy. Rose is my proverbial blood hound.” 

“How fitting,” Joan acerbically added. 

“I went to her and asked for help. She recognized the symbol on Omega’s Tablet.” That earned a gasp from Joan. 

“That tablet was in storage and required special authorization to study,” Joan recited, glaring the Doctor who smirked and Rose again decided, she was liking him more and more.

“I agree with Joan,” Kate admitted, “Miss Noble should never have had access to that tablet. That, of course, is a Guild matter that does not involve Miss Tyler. Given it was a member of our guild who escorted her into the sanctum, I’d say the preponderance of the evidence would absolve her from wrong doing. The Doctor on the other hand, has much to answer for.” 

No missing how Kate was laying it on the Doctor’s shoulders. “He will answer for that later. Until we have the opportunity to review this breach of protocol, he will escort Miss Tyler from this place, neither of them authorized to return. And we expect the Doctor, to report each step taken while we open an official investigation. If we find Miss Tyler involved in this disappearance, she will be detained.” 

Rose snorted. “I never even heard of Donna or your super-secret tablet. Kind of hard for me to be involved in my enclave which your people have under observation. Seems like you’ve done a shoddy job if you don’t know my comings and goings.”

“Indeed,” Kate agreed, dark eyed gaze boring into the Doctor. “The Council will be informed post haste if you find anything related to the Skaros.”

Rose pulled her coat tighter and sidled closer to the Doctor who immediately placed a hand on the small of her back.

“Agreed,” he said a little too fast but he was him. “Come on, Rose.” Rose had no desire to stick around, walked around the table, tugged on her backpack and followed him toward the door.

Joan seemed to fume and grabbed Rose’s arm before shrieking and jumping back. 

“She attacked me!”

“You grabbed her, “Kate noted, eyeing Rose who shrugged. 

“I didn’t do anything. It’s your fault if your sensitive to my kind of magic. Maybe be less handsy and more willing to talk.” 

“Oh, we will be talking, Miss Tyler,” Kate promised as the Doctor took Rose’s hand earning raised eyebrows from the mages. Next stop, Donna's flat and Wilf.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi all! Thanks for continuing to read :) More adventure. You will eventually find out what happened to Rose in Cheem and what happened in the Doctor's past as well but not for a few chapters. Next up is a trip to see Wilf and Rose gets drawn further into things she may not be ready for. Neither is the Doctor.
> 
> And yes, they will cross paths with a person known as The Immortal who I am sure you can all guess the identity of.

The Doctor and Rose quickly made their escape. Not fast enough to satisfy Rose. Fresh air, even laced with car emissions, never tasted so good. 

Although she felt a perverse pleasure at Joan’s reaction. Rose didn’t understand what happened and part of her worried. Another part remained chuffed that maybe she had a self-defense mechanism she didn’t know about. She should really figure that out.

Funny how it didn’t affect the Doctor. Maybe not funny, but intriguing, or worrying. Maybe both. God, this job was going to wreak havoc not just with her abilities but her head. Too many people involved. Too many lines to cross or blur. A sense of a storm coming edged at her perceptions, rumbling and threatening.

She was two days away from the anniversary of her run in with the Skaros. Each minute that ticked down, twisted her gut a little tighter. One light moment was the Doctor dragging her to a garage, the kind where mechanics hung out while repairing engines and talking about torque, chassis and speed. Wherein, the Doctor revealed himself not only a technomage but his love for old cars.

Bessie, he called her, his bright yellow convertible roadster. 1954 Ford Popular 103E he proudly announced before hauling arse making Rose happy he installed seatbelts. It was a nice diversion, him fiddling with his car, aiming his wand at the radio until it blasted Stevie Wonder’s Superstition. Cheeky mage. 

Rose didn’t complain as much as she might about his erratic and almost manic driving skills. Instead, she held on for dear life and spent time processing what happened in the Mage Archive. Only flinching when the Doctor decided he could text and drive and not almost kill them.

Things plunged down the proverbial power vortex when they stepped into Donna’s flat.

“Somehow I don’t think your organized apprentice lived like this.” Rose didn’t move more than a step taking in the chaos, a flat torn into shambles. Not the normal messy of someone living there but, furniture upended and ripped apart like someone was looking for something. Nothing magic related set off her inner alarm bells. At least it wasn’t booby trapped.

The Doctor slid past her, wand in hand.

“You said you checked here,” Rose nervously set down her pack and reached for her talisman, needing at least some form of security. The Doctor had already stormed past her, righting a side table and scooped books off the ground and stacked them on the coffee table. 

“It wasn’t like this.” His wand whirred and hummed as he walked the length of the living area, and seemed to scan for something. The Technomage at work.

While he poked, prodded and scanned for any spells or charms, Rose spent a moment surveying the room looking for details and signs of Donna. She focused on her talisman, shut her eyes for a moment and then looked for what couldn’t be seen, any magical foot prints, incantations, or nasty things left behind. There was a slight prickle of something against her skin but she couldn’t suss out if it was just Donna or something nefarious. Didn’t seem like black magic to her. Not that she was an expert.

She stepped over a shattered ceramic lamp and made her way to an open bar separating the narrow kitchen and living area. Eggplant damask curtains covered windows of the crowded living room. A smile fought to the surface as she took in an old Persian rug with similar purple beige and gold covering the floor. Donna had style. 

“Anything?” Rose asked, making her way into the living area, picking up a silver framed picture of Donna and an older, gray haired man. 

“Nothing still here. Wilf, her grandad.” The Doctor tapped the frame

“You said you researched her mobile and CCTV camera records. Did you try GPS tracking on her mobile?”

“Her cell records indicated she was in Farrington until she disappeared and then nothing. No cell tower pings. Nothing on GPS. Poof, gone. Don’t see any traces of who did this either. But I need to check K-9.” His mobile chimed before he explained what K-9 was. “Kate,” he grumbled and walked down a hall.

Rose knew their escape from the Mages was too easy. They were probably following them. Or tracking them using his mobile. Typical and even for the Doctor. Mage logic meant try tracking devices, cell phones and such before taking the domestic approach. A good snooping around often helped Rose in her early days. 

She lifted up a chenille throw and draped it on the sofa. She rolled her eyes at the typical mage gadgets. Enormous flat screen telly, earbuds, coffee table converted into a home media center. Rose reached for the remote which flew across the room away from her. “Typical.” 

As Rose picked up a pillow, she caught sight of a large silver gadget with creepy glowing red eyes behind an overstuffed reading chair. “Oh God, she’s got a blooming mage gadget security device.” Rose tightened her grip on the pillow.

“Doctor,” Rose backed up, prepared to unleash pillow doom on whatever it was.

“K-9! There you are!” The Doctor rushed over and dropped to his knees.

“Master,” the dog responded in his slightly tinny formal voice. Rose blew out air lifting her bangs. Of course he had a mechanical familiar. She’d heard stories of such but never had seen one. 

“You have a mechanical dog.”

“Mechanical, don’t be insulting. K-9 is a sophisticated masterpiece of robotics, artificial intelligence and can analyze most substances, elements, technology and has a self-defense mechanism.” The Doctor patted the robot dog, the size of a toaster oven, between his miniature dish antenna ears. 

“So why’s your familiar in Donna’s flat and why didn’t they take him or he stop whoever?”

“He’s not a familiar. That concept is outdated and banned. You honestly think it’s right to bind another life form to do my bidding?”

“Mages do lots of stuff I think is immoral and it doesn’t stop them. So what is he to you then?”

“A friend,” the Doctor answered, running his fingers over the boxy silver exterior. 

Rose smiled at how the Doctor cooed to K-9 like he was a real dog. 

“Okay so you made yourself a dog to keep you company. Why? I mean why not a real dog?”

“K-9 is a real dog. Aren’t you K-9.”

“Affirmative, Master.” K-9 wagged a single antenna tail protruding from the rear of his box like body. 

“Right. Moving on,” Rose announced and walked around a brown suede sofa. “Why’d Donna have him then? And why do you think they left him?” 

“I was traveling and couldn’t take him with me. Donna was keeping him company. And K-9 has a chameleon circuit. The tech makes him blend into the background as part of his defenses.” 

“You left him last time you were here?”

“I didn't see him. He’s practically invisible if you don’t know he’s there and he’s good at hiding. I’m betting he was on energy conservation mode as well.” The Doctor ran his hand over the overstuffed chair the robot dog hid behind. “K-9, what happened to Donna?” 

“Define parameters of query?”

Rose bit back another smile. K-9 might have had a touch of robot snark. 

“Don’t give me attitude,” the Doctor admonished. “When was the last time Donna was home?” 

His antenna ears wiggled before he answered. “Five solar cycles have passed since Mistress left this facility.”

“Five?” the Doctor repeated. “Did she carry anything with her?”

“Affirmative.”

“Well what then?”

“One valise and one messenger bag.”

“She was staying overnight. Was this on her way to see that fake Professor Yana you mentioned?” Rose asked.

“Could be. K-9, did Donna mention where she was going?” The Doctor again pulled out his metallic wand.

“Negative, Master.” K-9 responded while the Doctor grunted and waved his wand over said robot dog.

The whole picture of the Doctor, the blue tipped wand and the mechanical dog give Rose a vibe that the Doctor was more retro technomage. As in not a modern mage, but much older than he looked.

Rose decided to intervene while the Doctor played mage mechanic. 

“Hi, K-9, my name’s Rose.” 

“Authorization Theta T4Apple9,” The Doctor said without looking at anything except his wand. “Mistress Rose Tyler. And you can answer her question.” 

Rose arched a brow as K-9 answered.

“Rose Tyler accepted as authorized Mistress.”

“Thanks K-9. Can you tell us who rifled through this flat?” Rose asked.

“Unidentified intruders.”

“What did these unidentified intruders look like?” Rose asked, a cold seeping into her stomach at what she anticipated.

“This unit could not identify physical attributes.”

“What does that mean?” She looked at the Doctor, who stilled and gazed around the living room.

“It means they used technology to shield their identities.”

“Like mages?” Rose asked, worried that someone in the mage guild may be involved.

“Mages aren’t the only ones who can use tech, Rose.”

Yeah, but you saw how they reacted back in the Archive. You said they were out of sorts that anyone accessed that tablet, that it was crated when Donna found it. Is there something else going on here you’re not telling me?” Her temper flared and she sprang up. “Look, if you’re hiding something, I’m not interested in whatever mage politics you’re playing at.” 

He leveraged up to meet her. “I keep telling you this isn’t about mages. Maybe if you got that chip off your shoulder, we’d find Donna.”

“The chip stays until you tell me why it shouldn’t. Now what else was Donna into?” 

“Nothing,” He shouldered past her and paced the ten steps to the kitchen. “She’s innocent. Of mage anything that is. It’s not like she didn’t have a nose for trouble, mage or otherwise. I told you, she was as excited about discovery and mystery as she was that she might help her family.”

“Right,” Rose sighed and tried to let his arrogant defensiveness go. “So it’s not some jealous mage having at her? Anyone else? Employer, coworker?” 

“She was a librarian in a human university library. The only ones who had a grudge would’ve been students she caught doing whatever in the stacks. Or that lecherous old Professor, Lazarus I think she called him, who liked to leer and make innuendos. Doubt he’d be into mucking about her flat.”

“So that leaves us with something to do with the tablet and possibly the Mages who might have not wanted her to consult with anyone about it. Like this nonexistent Professor at Yana. Which means--”

“Someone set her up,” the Doctor finished for her.

“What about another Guild?” Rose posed the question standing and walking toward the entrance, drawn to a spot on the floor she had instinctively avoided earlier. She knelt down and held her palm over a spot on the hardwood floor. An icy prickle raced up her spine.

“The Arcadians could. So could the Pythia.” The Doctor wandered over next to her examining the floor with his wand buzzing.

“The Pythia wouldn’t be caught dead near your tech,” Rose retorted, rubbing her hands on her thighs. “Pythia don’t even carry mobiles or have anything electronic in their compound. Really annoying that.” She stood, getting an odd feeling something had entered this flat the nonphysical way leaving barely a trace behind. But a trace that she still picked up when she put her mind to it.

“Doesn’t mean Pythia didn’t hire someone.”

“No,” Rose drew out and scanned the room but her gaze was drawn back to the spot on the floor. “Something was here.” She inclined her head to the location of magic. “I don’t see it, can’t prove it but this wood, it has a memory of it.” Wood like the Forest of Cheem she thought as chills sank deep into her memory. “If this is anything to do with what I think, then everyone has a stake in the game.”

“Want to share what game that is?” He tossed his wand up, catching it one handed. God he was quite the picture. Tall, broad shoulders filling up the room with his presence. She still didn’t get dark and dangerous from him, more panther, stalking, maybe her. 

“Isn’t the game always about power? Who has it. Who wants it. What they’ll do to wield it.” Rose suggested, focusing on the door and getting out of this flat which was quickly giving her ominous closed in feelings. 

“Is that what happened to you?” He stilled, gaze drilling into Rose. “Getting caught up in someone’s power grab.”

“This isn’t about me. What kind of technology can hide identities from your robot dog?”

“What happened to you could be important. It’s why you’re here isn’t?” 

“We’ve been through this and you didn’t answer my question.” Diversion was something she was quite proficient at. Maybe more than him. 

“Shimmer. You wear it and it diverts light around you. K-9 would detect a presence but not in any detail. I need to know what happened to you in Cheem.” 

She ignored his question and lowered to face K-9. 

“K-9, how many anomalies were here and can you identify anything they removed?” 

“Three, Mistress. My scans do not indicate any previously scanned items removed other than what Mistress Donna removed.” 

“Well that’s something.” She stood to find the Doctor, grasping her elbow helping her up. “They must have thought she brought her research home.” 

“That means Donna didn’t have it and they couldn’t find it, whatever it is. They took Donna but they’re missing something.” Rose gripped his lapels when it hit her.

“Wilf” they both said together.


	7. Chapter 7

Nothing set the Doctor’s blood to boil more than Wilfred Mott being in danger. 

He’d met him once when Donna dragged him to lunch. Quick witted and with a keen sense of humor, he’d sussed the Doctor out in no time and unknowingly added himself to a group of people the Doctor considered under his protection. Kind of like Rose and Donna. Maybe the Doctor was feeling his age given how easily he’d let them all get close to him. 

The blonde powerhouse herself had quickly got his arse in gear. She was rather fantastic how she’d gotten him, k-9 and her belongings out the door and on the way to Wilf. 

“Can’t you mage this thing any faster?” she asked about his beloved roadster, Bessie.

“That would be against the rules of the Guild,” He said and grinned as the motor purred and hummed and in a blink of any eye, he did indeed violate Guild rules. Initiating the chameleon circuit similar to K-9’s, he levitated them over the traffic until they were blocks from Donna’s childhood home in Chiswick.

Rose giggled and nearly fell out of his car. “That was very technomage impressive and an adrenaline rush in the best way.” 

“See, told you. Now let’s go check out Wilf. K-9 guard Bessie.” 

“Affirmative, Master,” his faithful companion responded from the back seat. The Doctor stalked ahead as Rose rushed to keep up. 

“Have you been here before?”

“No, but I’ve met Wilf. No other mage quite like him, easy to locate.” 

“He rapped his knuckles on the door only to be greeted by a middle-aged blonde woman with a frown and cold piercing glare that put the mage gargoyles to shame. 

“What do you want?”

“Mrs. Noble, I’ve heard so much about you. I’m the Doctor, Donna’s mentor, I’m sure she’s mentioned me.” 

“You mean my daughter, who you a stuck up mage can’t be bothered to pay so she doesn’t have to work two jobs?”

“Two? I though she just worked at the library.” Doubt and guilt stabbed him in the chest.

“So typical of your kind. Use us and toss us aside. Your Guild has done enough to this family. Oh, I warned her. They were only using her to get to control Dad. It’s not like her talent is mage material.” 

“Donna’s worth twice most mages,” the Doctor defended as Rose seemed content to stand behind him. Out of the line of fire.

“Donna’s a useless low talent in our world who you’re just using to get to my Dad. You’ll get nothing more from this family. You tell your mage friends next time they try their little reign of terror, tearing up my garden, they’ll get worse than the garden hose.” The Doctor’s heart slammed in his chest. Fuck, he was too late. Rose’s hand dug into his arm as they both madly sought out evidence of magic only to hit the warded wall that apparently surrounded this house. And Sylvia wasn’t finished with her rant.

“We know when someone skulks around our property and no amount of mage tricks will hide them. This is your last warning. Your people may have tried to clip my father’s powers, but we have resources. You tell them, they pay up, reinstate our family and our pension or they can sod off.” 

He jumped back at the slammed door. 

“And you thought I was bad with the door greeting.” Rose squeezed his arm reaffirming she was with him. “Such charmers, you mages.” 

“And you’d do better?” Rose shrugged and gave him a tongue teasing smile that did very unmage like things to him. Like stoke his proverbial magic fire. He shoved that quickly to the side as they walked back to Bessie.

“The good news,” Rose said, bumping a shoulder against his arm as they walked. “Whoever tried something was sorted by Donna’s grandad. With wards like that, they won’t be getting in. He’s quite something. Can’t unmage the mage, can ya? Course, he also has a fierce dragon lady guarding the castle.”

“They could still try again,” he muttered, worry nagging at him about what Donna had they, whoever they were, needed. 

“Yeah but from the vibe I got from her mum, Wilf’s got a pretty iron clad protection spell on her as well. He might be an outcast, but he’s got enough in him to protect his family.”

The Doctor inclined his head, agreeing with Rose’s observations. “Guess we’ve got to out think the dragon then. Get around the proverbially castle walls to get to our retired mage.” 

“Or avoid the castle and have an intervention,” Rose suggested. 

“You mean like visiting the local pub for some bribery to convince my locator witch for assistance.” 

“A delicious offering,” Rose tacked on. 

The Doctor marveled the change in Rose. She went from hiding away suspicious, jumpy to ready to confront mages and teasing him. Getting out was good for her. Now if he could just get her to tell him what happened to her in Cheem and why she gave off a vibe of it happening to Donna. Wilf First.

As it so happens, the Doctor knew exactly how to intervene. It would require cover of darkness and no small amount of trespassing and climbing through some gardens at night. They went to a local pub for a quick planning session until darkness fell and they implemented their plan.

“It’s bloody freezing,” Rose complained, out of breath behind him. He ducked through another hedge. 

“Watch yourself,” Rose warned spitting leaves at the branch that inadvertently smacked her in the face. The Doctor spared her a glance before hopping through a patch of tulips.

“Be careful, you don’t know what might be making one of these tulips a bed tonight,” Rose grumbled which he was finding quite adorable.

He shouldn’t. No, Rose wasn’t allowed to be adorable. She was assisting him on a task and had a lot of magical baggage. No personal involvements. He’d vowed that long ago after the battle at his family home, and the resulting devastation. 

Except Rose Tyler seemed to sweep aside any logic and forged ahead, taking him with her which was not how things usually worked for him. He typically did the dragging into adventure. He paused at the last barrier to sneak into Wilf’s allotment. A tingle of power zipped up his spine. 

“Move your arse,” Rose ,demanded, shoving forward as branches untangled and parted before him. “They won’t stay that way forever. You might find feet at the bottom of those legs of yours. shift.” 

Which he did, reaching for her hand which fit rather nicely in his, tugging her along. He could get used to this, her hand in his. On an adventure.

“Your welcome,” Rose groused as the hedge shut behind them. 

Wilf, sitting in a lawn chair, telescope in front of him barely blinked. “I’d like to say I’m surprised. Given the events last night and the kasterboros meteor shower along with the way Sylvia’s been smashing around in the house ranting about fucking mages, I knew something was coming. Nice to see you again, Doctor.” 

“Sorry to barge into your evening Wilf. This is Rose Tyler.” Rose brushed off her jeans before directing a smile brighter than a supernova at Wilf. 

“Hi Mr. Mott. Nice telescope, she walked around eyeing a nearby shed that the Doctor, even without his wand, felt oozing a do not enter ward, powerful enough to scare off most humans much less magic kind. 

“Gardner, are you?” The Doctor made small talk as he planned how much to reveal to Wilf.

“Where’s Donna?” Wilf cut right the chase, fingers tapping the armrest of his lawn chair. “It’s been days since she texted and she’s not answering my calls. She’s gotten herself arse over tea kettle in trouble hasn’t she.” Even in the dark lit only by dim light from the shed and sparse light of the moon, the old mages blue eyes lasered into his chest.

Rose shifted uncomfortably beside him, arms wrapped around herself in the chilly air.

As he grasped for the right way to break the news, Wilf’s shoulders fell, making him look frail in his old thick wool coat. 

“It’s bad is it. I told her to let well enough alone.”

“You know Donna, once she gets something into her head there’s no stopping her,” the Doctor acknowledged, the full impact hitting him as he watched Wilf under the pale light of the waxing moon. 

This wasn’t just a wander she’d taken. And it didn’t just impact the Doctor. She had a family. And this was all his responsibility. 

“Mr. Mott, no matter what Donna’s done or taken or gotten into, we’re going to find her.” Rose stepped in with the words he somehow couldn’t spit out.

Wilf straightened and his gaze sharpened and the Doctor could practically feel it when his inner mage took a look at Rose. So did she by the way she stilled and put out some serious sussing out a mage vibe. He should know, she’d directed it at him. 

“Rose Tyler,” Wilf repeated and nodded. “I’ve heard the rumors about you. If himself has you here then that means she’s missing. And he brought the best diviner in the country. You need family connection to find her.”

“Don’t know about the best part. But that’s why I’m here. Didn’t get much from her flat, unfortunately.” 

“Someone was there before us,” the Doctor explained. “Turned her place upside down. They didn’t find what they were looking for and came here.,”

“And you know that how?” Wilf asked, leveraging up from his chair with Rose rushing to his side, steadying his arm. He jolted and stared at her. 

“Sorry,” She stepped back.

“You just surprised me, Sweetheart. That’s quite zing you have. It’s been a while since I felt anything close.”

“We shouldn’t talk out here,” the Doctor said. “Shed looks good. Unless you’d rather keep your secrets.” The Doctor waited to see how deep Wilf was in this.

“An old mage is entitled to his secrets. But given the violation of my territory, I welcome you into my shed as my guest for the night.”

The Doctor urged them forward as Rose seemed less wary and stuck close to Wilf. She lightened the mood telling Wilf about K-9 which earned him a chuckle from the old Mage. The Doctor was too on edge to banter. He peered into the bushes which seemed darker than normal shadowed shrubbery should be.

“Your wife, was she a diviner?” Rose asked as they stepped into the cramped wooden shed. The Doctor shut the door, quickly layering his own ward. He had to duck slightly in the close-in-space, dimly lit with oil lamps swinging on hooks casting shadows on the battered wooden work table. 

“She was a hybrid like you,”Wilf answered Rose as he shot the Doctor a speculative look 

“I’m not--” Rose stumbled over words, backing into a table and then spinning around. “Donna was here.” 

“Of course, she was. Wasn’t going to rely on just the Doctor to mentor her. She might be his apprentice, but she’s my blood.” Wilf shuffled over and shoved aside magazines, a trowel and garden gloves before pulling an old wooden box forward. 

The Doctor leaned in next to Rose, focusing on fitting his biologic energy to hers. She leaned back against him, her pinky finger hooking around his index finger.

“You all right?” he asked close to her ear. Too close but he couldn’t stop it, the way she fit against him, the comforting hum of how their energies mixed. 

“I’m letting this go on because I don’t want upset Wilf and you make a decent grounding in a place so filled with mage magic.”

Warmth flushed up his neck until he thought about pealing his coat off. Except that would mean losing contact with her and he wasn’t ready to do that. 

“Oh, it won’t upset me if you want to wallop him for putting the moves on your aura. My wife slapped me good the first time I gave her a little magical pinch.” 

Rose began to shake until laughter burst out and she elbowed the Doctor in the stomach. He ooomphed even if it didn’t really hurt. It was more about how her laughter fizzed and popped around him like weaving an intricate web of music. He stared in awe even as Wilf chuckled. 

“He’s a goner,” Wilf commented before opening the wood box.

Rose inhaled sharply and snapped their connection but not before the Doctor felt gongs sounding like a cloister bell warning of doom. Rose gripped the edge of the table and let loose a shuddering breath.

“Donna was practicing with my grandfather’s journal.”

“Whoa,” Rose breathed out.

“Grand Mage Mott is still revered,” the Doctor mentioned. “His dimensional transcendental technology was years ahead of anything we have even today.”

“What does it do?” Rose asked, eyeing the leather-bound notebook as if it might jump out and attack her.” 

“Makes the inside bigger than the outside. The archive is an example.” 

Rose whipped her head around. “You’re kidding me.” 

“Not bad for a bunch of mages, even if they’re a bit stingy with what’s in it,” the Doctor responded lightly.

“Takes a lot of power to maintain. That sort of resource wasn’t available in my granddad’s time. My father was part of the group that worked on sourcing the power,” Wilf said with a hint of pride.

Rose stilled, like a statue. “Where’d they source it?”

The Doctor had chills race up his neck. They exchanged a weighted slightly terrified look. 

“For the archive, it would have to be something inside or below the area to be held in place.”

The Doctor didn’t like that he hadn’t asked this question. Too busy avoiding the rules when he should have paid attention. Like Rose.

“They investigated solar, magnetics, hydro power from the River Poosh,” Wilf drifted off and his eyes lit on Rose who turned pale. 

The Doctor felt a lump form in his chest. The mages wanted Rose. They’d been watching her. They were afraid of her. And he had an inkling why and it has more to do with what happened in Cheem between her and the Skaros. Along with what she could do for them. Like she’d said to him, everything was about controlling power.

“Right,” Rose cleared her throat. “Well, we’re here for Donna not digging into Mage dirty magic. Donna practiced divination of this book. Did she use anything to help her?” 

“Well, I kept her steady, acted as a sort of grounding force so she didn’t get lost. That’s the danger with book divination, getting lost in the story it’s showing you about users and writers,” Wilf said almost conversationally despite the inherent danger he disclosed. 

“Did she get lost?” The Doctor could barely get the words out. He’d been so stupid letting Donna go head long into something so intricate as an ancient tablet without discussing the how she was doing it. 

“I see that look, Doctor,” Wilf noted, pulling the book out along with a pitted and tarnished brass medallion. “Donna made her own choices. She didn’t ask me or her mother about exploring and expanding her talent. She just did it. Sylvia was against it from the start.”

“No surprise there,” Rose commented, seemingly more relaxed. “She wasn’t so keen on the Doctor and seemed bitter about Donna’s job. Not the most supportive mum.” 

“Sylvia blames me and the Guild for ruining the family. She was denied a destiny, an heirship she thought was hers by right until I stood my ground in the war, developing code breaking tech and a few other useful gadgets for the allies. I don’t regret what I did, stopping the killing and te Nazis who were getting help from the Skaros. I do regret my family caught the brunt of the Guild’s punishment. Donna caught the worst of it from Sylvia I’m afraid. But that doesn’t mean Donna let it get her down. 

“My granddaughter didn’t wallow over something she never had and didn’t sit on her arse waiting on anything. She went out and got it. Which means, Doctor, you’re not responsible for whatever’s happened and whatever your blaming yourself for.” 

“She used the Doctor as her anchor didn’t, she?” Rose stated.

The Doctor again stood stunned next to a very astute Rose Tyler who figured out what he missed. 

“Of course, she did! She’s not daft, you know.” Wilf directed a smug look before poking the Doctor in the chest. “Pulled one over on you, didn’t she? Ha! The Doctor had to admit he got pulled by an apprentice. Wilf cackled with glee and Rose wasn’t far behind him as the Doctor sputtered with outrage.

“Getting too old,” he grumped before trying to get them back on task. “Back to why we’re here.” The two, who now looked exceedingly bonded, against him no less, seemed to refocus. 

“I’m not sure this journal is the best way to find Donna,” Rose said, eyeing the thick book. “There’s going to be a lot of background interference from Wilf’s family and probably his grand mage granddad in particular,” Rose noted. “And as much as it’s fun to think Donna just used the Doctor to ground her, I’m thinking she had something else, like maybe that medallion Wilf’s holding.”

“Clever,” Wilf acknowledged. “Donna did borrow the medallion a couple of times. It’s what we used for the diary here. Now, other than me, Donna was the last to touch it. I’m betting you can filter out the background noise on this.” 

“I dunno,” Rose drew out and for once, the Doctor was happy about her hesitance.

“How does the medallion work?” he asked.

“It’s like a key. Helps the diviner to focus in.”

Things clicked into place. Donna was digging far more than she let on or that he paid attention to. A mistake he wouldn’t make with Rose.

“Donna used this during her research. Did she use it on the tablet?” Rose asked, not far behind his thoughts. 

“No, she couldn’t,” the Doctor answered, shifting closer to the medallion. “Any unauthorized magical items couldn’t get it past archive security. I’m thinking she wanted to but couldn’t and that’s the missing piece here. She saw the symbols and had a feel for it but needed help to break down the meaning,” the Doctor shuffled his feet, aggravated at how much he missed and paced the four steps across the small shed before spinning around to them. “Why didn’t she ask me?”

Wilf snorted. “To use Mott family magic? The minute she mentioned it existed put all of us at risk with the Guild.”

Aggravation took its toll until the Doctor wanted to shout and scream at the foolishnesses of mages. Himself included. Until Rose placed a hand on the crook of his arm. 

“It’s not your fault,” she said with a soft earnesty that washed away the growing storm of emotions.

“There’s a lot of fault to pass around. That medallion could unlock whatever secrets were on that tablet. Someone knows it.” His only relief was how well Wilf had this place warded. And so far, no one had figured out it was here.”

“Let’s focus on how they don’t have it. And they won’t because Wilf’s gonna make sure of it,” Rose didn’t take any prisoners in how she made a suggestion more a command.” 

“It doesn’t leave this shed. Ever since last night, I’ve been working up a few tricks to make sure the Journal’s safe from any nosey mages. So that’s settled. It’s not like I haven’t heard gossip from the Guild, fear of something rumbling in the Earth is stretching across the land. You brought Rose as more than a Diviner. Everyone knows she was the last one to see the Cult of Skaro alive. You think they’ve got something to do with this.” Wilf identified the proverbial and very frightening rampaging elephant in the room. 

“They’re gone, dispersed. The Mages, Aracadians and Pythia all agreed.” Rose tugged at her hair, darting glances at the door. The Doctor felt a heaviness press on his chest. Words had power and Wilf just invoked evil, the oldest evil. The ones both he and Rose had faced and defeated at different times in their lives. The story he still didn’t have from her but needed badly. Not just for Donna, but for him. 

“Let’s focus on finding Donna first,” he Doctor said as much for himself as Donna.

“The medallion, can I hold it?” Rose’s brow furrowed and she rolled her shoulders fidgeting. 

“Are you sure you want to do this now, Rose” The Doctor worried about the significance at that piece of round metal. Time seemed to speed up, events slamming into each other faster and faster. He couldn’t lose Rose like he lost Donna. 

“Donna may not have time for us to wait. If Wilf is good with it, I’m ready.”

The Doctor wasn’t sure if he was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again for reading! Finally, Wilf! Next Chapter, Rose is going to do a little divining but it doesn't go as planned.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiya everyone and thank you so much for reading. More on Wilf this chapter and Rose does her magic thing to find Donna but there's a lot more ahead. Thank you for the kudos and comments!

Rose didn’t want to touch Wilf’s medallion. Unfortunately, she also didn’t feel like she had a choice. Donna needed help.

She could feel the world spinning beneath her feet, the quiet rumble of energies flowing in the ground awakening and whispering to her. They were drawn to the medallion and the book. Added to her uneasiness was that brief cunning flash in Wilf’s eyes earlier when he looked at her out under the stars. Hybrid, he called her. Whatever that meant and she wasn’t sure she cared to find out. 

The point was he knew Rose was different. Maybe because Donna was touched with the same difference. Useful if certain people had her. Certain people who wanted to use her the way they used Rose. Except Rose had been the key to something that didn’t involve a book or a tablet. 

She rubbed her palms on her jeans and pulled out the Gaia Talisman that a friend who was similarly touched with unwanted power had given her to use in times when she felt out of control. 

“That’s a nifty talisman,” Wilf commented while the Doctor stood by her side. 

She closed her hand around the talisman avoiding discussing the questions she could see hovering around Wilf. The only hover she wanted was near the Doctor. He settled her like the talisman in her hand. The Doctor reminded her of how safe she felt at home. A sudden longing for her garden struck through her. Running back to Powell, to her safe place tugged at her chest and itched her feet. But she’d promised to help find Donna even if it awakened old wounds.

“Let’s get this over with,” She pocked her talisman and held out her hand. 

“You don’t have to do this now.” The soft burr in the Doctor’s voice comforted her. Sometime between the mage archive and Wilf’s shed, he’d decided Rose needed protecting. For the first time in quite a while, she didn’t feel threatened by the thought.

“It’s okay. Just need to prepare myself.”

“I wish I could help you but I’m afraid, I’m only good with my own blood anymore. Mages did their best to clip m wings.” Wilf said with a crack in his voice.

“I’ll steady her.” Rose felt the Doctor bump her side. 

“Chivalrous, but you can’t. No one can. I’m on my own. So let’s just do it.” 

Wilf dropped the medallion into her palm but looked pensive.

“You okay, Wilf?” she asked, distracting herself from the tingling shooting up her arm to her elbow.

“Donna’s lost, but she’s not hurt or dying. I’d know.”

“Did you bind yourself to her?” the Doctor asked and not without a hint of concern Rose shared.

“She’s all I have left in the world. Don’t have much to give her other than some of the old Mott magic. When I die, it’s hers. And if she goes first, so do I. Don’t want to live in a world without my Donna.”

“That’s not gonna help bring Donna home,” Rose stated firmly.

“No,” the Doctor agreed with a hint of deep simmering power that Rose could almost taste. “We’re not losing either of you.” He affirmed. 

The Doctor’s magic and determination mixed with a bit of Rose’s, energized her. Rose closed her eyes before the world warped and her sense of where she was skewed into a roller coaster effect of nausea. Breathing in and out, she tried to make sense of the voices, scents and images spinning around her, echoes from the medallion. 

That was the hard part, focusing on one memory moment attached to the object. And something like this had been handled by more than one person with magical talent. 

Rose concentrated on the picture of Donna she found in her flat. Ginger hair, sparkling blue eyes and a sense of colorful style. Finding her magic thread was difficult with so many familial relations attached to the object. 

“Wilf can you move a few steps away?” Once he moved, she felt a little more breathing room as the medallion seemed particularly tuned to Wilf. Or maybe like he said, it was his line. An eerie sensation of eyes boring into her, most of them blue, left her sure these were all the Motts.

I’m only here to help find one of you, she mentally broadcast before she called out to Donna. Whispers slid around her, all calling Donna’s name. There must have been dozens of them. Weird. She’d never had other life forces embedded in an object actually interact and help her. 

Annoyance picked at her. Wilf hadn’t been honest about what this thing was. Crafty mage. Cut off but not. At that thought, a vivid image of ginger hair and a loud shouting voice took over. There she was. 

Rose focused on that voice, that connection until suddenly she was in a library with the Doctor. 

“I’m telling you, there’s something big connected to this. I feel it, Doctor.”

“That’s why you should let it be. Give it a rest and think on it. Do your research before blonding in.” Donna didn’t seem amused.

“I’ve done my research. The book that led me to the tablet was the research. And the tablet, it’s amazing,” her voice turned reverent. “It’s like I waited my whole life to find it. I’m sure it’s going to lead to some druid history, the ancestors that we all came from.”

“Another good reason to let it be.” The Doctor said, putting down his silver wand which he’d waved over a black box he frowned at. 

“Our ancestors scattered for a reason. You think the druids just disappeared on a whim? That tablet was locked up for a reason. Maybe someone doesn’t want anyone to go stumble into the thing that scared the ancestors so bad they all hid among humans for a centuries before taking a peek out. The past is our burden and nothing we should treat like a new toy.” Rose sensed Donna’s frustration.

“That’s easy for you to say running away all the time, never staying put or building roots. But my family has, and were punished for doing the right thing. If I publish a paper on why the druids disappeared, even if it’s some ancient evil bad, it’ll teach people to learn from the past and maybe give gramps a bit back of what he lost.” 

“Do your research but don’t tell anyone. And don’t go dipping into dark magic.” 

“Really, that’s what you think. I’m not that daft. I’ll do research, but I’m not hiding or running away from where it leads.” She’d whipped out of the library. 

Rose lost track as emotions coursed through her, hot, angry, resentful, an argument with her mum. God they’d only seen the tip of the iceberg with her. And then bone chilling blackness. 

She gasped, almost dropping the medallion. 

“Rose!” the Doctor’s voice sounded distant. And then she was falling. The world was gone, and she was falling and falling into icy bone chilling dampness. A scent assailed her. Wet, mold, and earth. 

“No,” Donna stated with rebellion tinged with fear. “I’m not helping or giving you anything.”

Nothing but the black, except a sliver peaked through, grey rough hewn stone, old, like a keep or a castle and then Rose landed on her knees and elbows still gripping the medallion. 

Whiskey, Scotch, smokey and smooth filled her mouth. A cackling voice that sent chills up her spine. 

“If the book witch can’t open it, there is another. The one we made. It is her destiny. She will come to us.” 

Rose dropped the medallion just as an electrical current seared up her body. She slumped into the Doctor’s arms. 

“I’ve got you. Ground yourself. Don’t let it take you,” his soft voice commanded. Unable to speak, she gasped for breath, fingers digging into this leather coat. When she opened her eyes, a migraine split through her skull. 

“They’re back.” fell from her lips before darkness claimed her.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi again! Uh this probably will be more than 13 chapters LOL. I'm still futzing with chapter lengths. Thanks for reading :)

Forget distance, keeping things professional or anything of the like. The Doctor was well across the line as he cradled Rose in his arms. The tingling power flowing off her reminded him of a time he’d rather not remember. 

They’re back. Words that flooded him with fear and anger. 

“Wilf, I need water, lavender, lots of salt and sage. We need to make a circle and cleanse,” he ordered, gently sweeping hair off her face. 

“I wouldn’t think you’d be into the natural stuff,” Wilf said in a worried voice rummaging through shelves before pulling out what the Doctor asked for. “I’m a little low on the sage.” 

The Doctor took the box of salt and poured a circle around him and rose. He used his sonic wand to burn the sage and mixed lavender salt and water to make a poultice for Rose in a handkerchief he pulled from his pocket. 

Wilf hovered picking up the medallion and putting it back in the box. “You know what that looked like to me,” Wilf said casually staring down his work bench. 

“I know what it was. There anything else you want to tell us about that medallion and this garden shack?” 

Wilf hunched over the bench before turning toward them. “I didn’t know this would happen. I…it shouldn’t have. Rose is--” He closed his mouth eyeing a flickering lightbulb lighting the tight space.

“Better not name it.” The Doctor pressed the poultice on her forehead before waving it in front of her nose as her eyes fluttered open and her body convulsed, feet scrappling against the dirt floor.

“Easy love, it’s over. You’re safe.” 

Rose groaned and wrinkled her nose. “No one’s safe.” 

The Doctor scanned the salt circle and the burning sage. He still felt a slight vibration beneath the ground. “Wilf,” he might have growled the elderly man’s name. 

“It’s not dangerous. We’re standing here right as rain. Just like you were when you stepped in.”

“Rose is hurt.,” was the Doctor’ clipped answer as he channeled some of his own simmering power into a caustic glare he hadn’t used in decades. 

“Oh, don’t start that,” Wilf gruffly defended. “Gave that look enough in my prime to know where you’re coming from. I may be old now but, in my time, I didn’t let anyone hurt people I loved.”

“Rose is a partner. We’re not like that.”

“Yeah right,” Wilf gave a hard laugh. “Your mouth says one thing, but what rolls off you says another. And I’m sorry. She shouldn’t have overloaded. This place, like many, is old and has far more memories than the medallion Rose held. I’ve used the magnetic life force that wells up here plenty of times. Never had anyone else puttering around outside have a problem with it until Rose.”

“You should have told me that first,” Rose griped, finally stirring as she held the poultice over her eyes.

The Doctor tensed wondering how much she’d heard. Internally he fought an emotional battle between denial and a fierce need to protect Rose. Not that she needed protecting as he watched her lift the poultice and drill an unhappy stare into Wilf.

“And that medallion is hundreds of years old, if not a thousand. Should have told me that too.”

“I doubt it’s a thousand. And it’s been on a shelf for decades until I pulled it out for Donna a few years ago. Age shouldn’t have been an issue.” 

The Doctor could see Wilf appeared flustered. Judging by how he shoved the medallion and book away, maybe he didn’t know.

“It’s got ties to several generations of mages,” Rose continued in a rough voice. “Bloody noisy the lot of them. And it’s not just an object is it.”

The Doctor looked from Rose to how Wilf’s mouth gaped. 

“Donna used it to help read the journal, but I’ve never used it as a focus in anything. All my futzing about was done with objects I built and infused with some crystals I picked up from the Sisters of Pythia.” 

“Well someone else in your family did. A lot of somebodies. And Donna definitely left her mark on it. You said she used it for the book which we haven’t had a good look at yet.” Rose winced and tried to sit up with the Doctor’s help. 

The only reason the Doctor hadn’t stormed over to examine the journal was Rose still seemed wobbly. And touching her like this, it was a little more addicting than he’d like to admit. Their magic was compatible and that was him being a gentleman and not thinking on how they might be compatible in other ways.

“Like I told you, the medallion was just a key of sorts for the family journal. There’s nothing related to Donna’s work other than she might have brought some papers here to see if it would help her.”

“If she used it on the Monk’s diary, it’s connected and it’s why you had visitors last night,” the Doctor stated and turned to Rose. “You okay to stand?” 

Rose accepted his hand and he helped her up noting she was still a touch wobbly. 

“I’m sorry, Sweetheart,” Wilf apologized. “I could see you were talented and suspected you might react badly to the journal which is way we stuck with the medallion.” 

“Look Wilf, an object like that, one that is used with another object like your family journal requires adding something of your energy to the key object. Makes it hard for others to use,” Rose said in a tired voice. “The only reason it worked like it did for me was I asked your ancestors help and don’t think that’s normal or easy. I’m betting your journal is more than it looks. I mean you’ve got it warded so only you can touch it, right? Maybe even the box?”

“This one’s clever, you should take her on with Donna. They’d complement one another,” Wilf noted. 

“You trying to get me to build an illegal coven? Maybe we should stick to one calamity a night,” the Doctor insisted. “

“Still here,” Rose noted and tantalizing close until the Doctor practically felt her bristling with witchcraft.

“Yes, and so is that medallion and book,” the Doctor noted. “Which might bring more trouble than Wilf wants.”

Wilf immediately straightened and crossed his arms in a very stubborn mage way. If he had been at full strength and had a channeling mechanism, the Doctor has no doubt they’d be booted across the block. 

“It’s warded as is this shed. The only reason you’re here is I gave permission. No one but Donna and I can read the journal and it stays that way.” A warning as clear as daylight and the Doctor respected Wilf would stand his ground.

“Let’s start over,” Rose shifted a step but didn’t leave the circle. 

The Doctor noticed dark circles under her eyes. “Maybe in the morning,” he suggested even as he wanted answers right then. 

“No, we need to do this while everything’s fresh,” Rose insisted. “I know what has her and approximately where she might be but I have to know more about the Mott family. Might help figure out why they went after Donna. And don’t give me it’s just the tablet. It’s not.” 

“Who has her?” Wilf’s demand was still strong enough to crackle in the air as he laid a hand on the box holding his book and the medallion. 

“I think we all know that even if we’re not saying it. Now, who are your ancestors?” Rose countered. 

“Rose, let’s focus on Donna.” The Doctor suddenly had a sick knot in his stomach. The tablet Donna worked on had ties to the old world. If Donna’s family did…

“We are,” she said still focused on Wilf. 

“The Motts go back a ways. Nothing fancy. We were forecasters, mostly. Weather workers, star gazers, book diviners and astrologists. Most hunted down during the middle ages I think,” he said, his tone growing hard and bitter. 

“Been around here for a while then,” Rose nodded. “How old’s the book and medallion?”

“Four hundred years,” Wilf answered easily. 

“Wilf,” Rose sighed. “I touched it. It’s much older.” Wilf looked at the box sitting on the bench, a hand scrubbing at his white bearded jaw. 

“There’s a family rumor,” Wilf trailed off.

“God, isn’t there always,” Rose groaned. 

“But great uncle Osgood was always a bit of a rebel and loved a good story. He liked to talk about the old mythology. It was the whiskey. It wasn’t like it was the truth.”

“Wilf, if you gave her something that goes back millennia, on land that wells natural life force, you could have started something none of us could stop.” The Doctor noted, a hand slipping around Rose’s waist which she quite nicely leaned into. 

“I only had confirmation about the past four hundred years. I swear I never intended for you to be hurt. 

“It’s my fault too,” Rose admitted. Stupid of me to touch a strange object without more information. I’ve gotten careless living off on my own.” 

The Doctor was overcome with an unrelenting need to cradle her in his arms at how her voice sounded so despondent. Too similar to him when he’d let people get close. Like Donna. Responsibility bound one, like chains to an anchor you dragged with you everywhere.

“You wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for Donna and me,” he gently squeezed her waist. Rose didn’t move, staring sightlessly across the room until he wondered what she was seeing. Seen enough ghosts himself to know the look.

“Donna didn’t find any of this by accident,” Rose said slowly. “I think someone is using her, for her knowledge and her bloodline. And not just her, but all of us. You see, I heard them. They know I’ll come to find her. I’m the one that channeled the power they wanted. Last time, they thought I was just a vessel they could control. But they were wrong. I don’t know how they’re still around and strong enough to take her.”

“This isn’t your fault and you’re not alone.” The Doctor refused to let Rose take the blame. “Donna wanted to keep going. I should have stopped her.”

Wilf barked out a laugh. “Doctor, you may come from one of the old lines, the ancient houses and all that, but even you couldn’t stop her. Once Donna decides to do something, she does it. She convinced you to take her on as an apprentice didn’t, she?” 

“That’s not an excuse.” And it wasn’t. He was responsible. All he had to do was tell the Council of Mages and they would have clamped down on Donna’s research. He hadn’t because his standard answer was always for them to fuck off and go do what he wanted. And a sliver of his own curiosity prevailed over caution.

And he nudged Donna on. Deep down he knew she deserved to have something of her own. Stupid him didn’t think it would ever turn out this way. He should be the one kidnapped. Not her. And now he had Rose involved. This had to stop. 

“I’m taking Rose home.”

“But Donna,” Wilf complained. “Rose hasn’t’ told us where Donna is or what she saw.”

“I’m not going home,” Rose announced.

The Doctor stared into stubborn whiskey colored eyes.

“We’re standing in a salt circle after you passed out from going too far. If the Cult of Skaro is involved, we need to gather the Guild Councils and let them handle it. I won’t put you in further danger.”

“Donna can’t wait for a bunch or bureaucrats to fight over treaties and magic rights horseshite.” Rose crossed her arms and damned if power didn’t well in him, reacting to how hot she still channeled bioenergy amplified by her stubborn attitude. Always a sucker for that, him.

Wilf slammed his hand down on the table. “She’s my only granddaughter. The last of my line. I won’t stand by while they kill her. No matter what I have to do.” 

“I’m going to find Donna with or without you Doctor.” Rose stated in a sort of alliance with Wilf.

“What do think you’re going to do? Waltz in and serve yourself up as a willing sacrifice? Here Skaros, let me be your implement of evil,” he mimicked. 

“Stop acting like a stuck up mage. Do you think I want to do this? It scares the shite out of me! But I won’t walk away from Donna or what they might do to her. If I don’t go they might do to her what they did to me and maybe she won’t be so lucky and she’ll burn.”

“You can’t do this alone,” he complained even as he knew she’d won and he was already planning on things he’d need to help her. Wilf looked damned ready to go with her and he couldn’t let that happen.

“I won’t. You dragged me into this and you’re seeing it through. But it’s still not enough. We need a special kind of help. With the location and a little more intel on what they’re doing.” Her face softened as she eyed Wilf. “I’m sorry Wilf, it can’t be you. I need someone a bit more spry, someone as unaffiliated as me, and a lot more connected in the shadow world.” 

“Who’s that?” Wilf asked. 

The Doctor clenched his jaw and jammed his hands into his coat pockets thinking about one person who fit that description. He didn’t even want to think about how she’d thought of him or how he’d fit in the mix.

“He’s unreliable, a wild card and costs more than you’re willing to pay.”

“Who? Wilf again demanded.

“Payment’s not the problem,” Rose insisted nudging salt with the toe of her trainer

“Payment’s always a problem with him.”

“Not for me,” Rose said with a sly smile that was not making him any happier. 

“For the love of magic everywhere who?” Wilf shouted.

“Captain Jack Harkness.” Rose answered.

“The Immortal?” Wilf’s voice pitched up and for the first time he looked at the Doctor with a hint of fear. The Doctor couldn’t blame him. This was not going to end well.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! So Jack shows up next chapter. One quick warning in case this bothers anyone. Rose and Jack have a sort of mild case of friends with benefits. This is a Nine/Rose story but Rose has a past taking comfort with Jack. Jack is involved with someone as well but he's Jack and is a little protective of Rose.
> 
> This will be evident in the next chapter. The chapter after that reveals the Doctor's and Rose's past and the events that changed their lives.
> 
> Thank you for reading and a very special thank you to mylifeiscomics on tumblr who made the loveliest fanart for this story. https://mylifeiscomics.tumblr.com/post/624930487893409793/doodles-inspired-by-kelkat9-s-magic-au-fic-the

They left Wilf’s shed in silence, and Rose with a pounding headache. In the car, the Doctor clenched the steering wheel so tight she was surprised diamonds didn’t pop out his ears. 

Not that she had time to worry about him. Too many world ending events threatened on the horizon. They both wanted to find Donna and put a stop to the Skaros. Whether he liked it or not, they needed the kind of help Jack Harkness could provide. 

The train station was mostly empty at the late hour. The last thing Rose wanted was to trudge through crowds with scowling mage and his mechanical dog. The power drain was wearing on her. Blessedly, where they headed was a good five hours away by train. Good old Loch Ness. Home of the infamous Nessie. Or for Rose, more like the gateway to a place where Nessie lived, unless she peeked out to stir things up. 

“We could go to the mage council.” The Doctor couldn’t stay silent for long.

Rose sighed and wondered why he’d want to do that when neither of them was on the best terms with the Mages. 

“They’d lock us both up and let Donna die before doing anything. Trust me, I know how they work. Didn’t exactly help me when I needed it.”

“Did you ask?” his voice softened as they made for their platform, K-9 trailing behind them. Each footstep echoed in an ominous way until Rose pulled her coat tight. Lots of things lurked in old cavernous stone train stations, especially when humans weren’t looking or around. 

“Didn’t have time to ask anyone for help before Cheem. After, they just wanted to blame someone not help. Made everything harder, locking me up in some allegedly safe location. More like a tiny room where they held me prisoner while bickering with the Arcadians and Pythia. 

“My mum went to the mage council when she got wind of what was going on. When they didn’t listen, she went to the Pythia to get me out. I was in bad shape but, I couldn’t stay with her. It was too dangerous.” 

She refused to wallow in the aftermath of a life she lost with her mother so heartbroken to learn the truth. A flutter of wings in a shadowed alcove caused her to grip the strap on her pack. The Doctor’s pace picked up. 

“So, they collected you, any evidence that happened and locked it away,” he continued. “Typical bureaucrats.”

“Sort of. The Sisters of Pythia were the first ones in Cheem,” Rose continued with hesitation. “The mages weren’t happy with any of it. They argued to be in charge of the investigation” 

“Sounds about right,” the Doctor agreed. “And how does Jack Harkness fit into your life? Why do you trust him?” There was no missing subtle unsaid question: why do you trust Jack and not me.

“Jack understands what it’s like to cross the mages and have them up your arse so hard, the other guilds are just as suspicious. He helped me get the paperwork I needed to settle in the human world and satisfy all the limitations and rules of my so-called probation. Ironic yeah, me punished for being attacked by black-magic-using-pricks and ridding the world of their evil arses when the guilds couldn’t.”

“Harkness helped you with paperwork? That I believe even less than he’ll help us. He’s more a trade coin for a spell or personal favor. The only thing we have in common is we’re both better at swanning in, mixing things up and disappearing before the reports are due. Although I don’t hide out in the Underworld like some people do.” “

“Jack’s all right once you get to know him. We cut a deal,” Rose told him enough to calm him down. “My garden is a bit special and might provide things he and others off the grid might need. Maybe the three of have something in common. I’m not one for reports or paperwork myself or sticking around for Mage investigations. I’m guessing Donna was good at both. Bet you made her do all that ugly mage reporting.” She sat on a black metal bench as the Doctor scanned the area, in particular one tunnel that looked a little too dark, as in the not earthly normal type. 

“She knew how to check all the boxes.” He pulled out his wand, blue type tip making a whistling buzz sound. “K-9 scan for harmonic energy to a variable of 12.”

“Affirmative Master.”

“Trouble?” Rose asked even as she already knew there was. 

“Our train’s gonna be delayed.” 

Stale air lifted Rose’s hair followed by a roar of wind and hundreds of black winged creatures streamed out of the tunnel swirling around the arched stone ceiling making a vortex around them. 

“Show offs,” the Doctor muttered, arms crossed.

“Fluctuation of Earth Standard Harmonics identified,” K-9 reported.

“Who is it as if I didn’t already know,” he asked.

“Readings match one atmospheric manipulation utilized by Sister of Pythia.” 

Rose rubbed at her temples, not looking forward to yet another run in with a guild.

“Bet I know who,” the Doctor admitted as a cloaked figure approached. 

“Rose Tyler,” the figure greeted, dropping her gray cloak until Rose met familiar gray eyes. 

“And the Doctor,” Harriet Jones intoned with less warmth. “An odd but not unexpected alliance.” 

“Nice to see you again, Harriet. There something we can help you with?” Rose asked blasé as she could. 

The Sisters of Pythia had a knack for showing up at historical type events, tragedies, important deaths or births. Anything that affected the course of humanity or the planet. They’d been reported to be on a hill in Sumatra during the Tsunami and at Pearl Harbor during the attack as well as at Cheem. This didn’t bode well. 

“It’s what I can do for you,” Harriet responded, ignoring the Doctor. Her eyes landed on K-9 and she sighed. “Mages. Always doing things the hard way. Using technology to replace what nature already provides.”

“K-9 is a good dog and he’s not a familiar. He’s autonomous and capable of independent thought. Isn’t that right, K-9” the Doctor continued his defensive attitude.

“Affirmative, Master.”

“Harriet, you didn’t come here to insult the Doctor and his dog.” Rose stood up, better to be ready to deal with anything else Harriet brought with her.

“No, I’m here out of concern. We are afflicted with an unbearable sense of dread. Our sisters have not felt anything like this since…well I think you know. And here we find you with the Doctor, the oncoming storm himself.” 

“Oncoming storm,” Rose repeated and eyed him, blue eyes lasered into Harriet. 

Tension arced between them, one clearly mired in a history. Rose mustered up enough energy to intervene. She didn’t have any major issues with Harriet. But she also knew the Pythia could throw a wrench in their mission to save Donna.

“I’m not unleashing, the Doctor, his storm or the apocalypse if that’s what your thinking. I’m trying to stop it.” 

“Rose,” the Doctor cautioned. 

“The Cult of Skaro,” Harriet spoke the name as if it didn’t have power.

Rose tensed moving a little closer to the Doctor. “I’d be a little more careful with speaking that name.”

“I could say the same to you,” Harriet admonished.

“This doesn’t concern you,” The Doctor rumbled in an irritated tone. His presence sizzled against her skin, like the storm Harriet mentioned. 

“It concerns all of us, Doctor,” Harriet responded.

“You know I can’t stand idle and let them have power again,” Rose’s words were automatic but from a very deep and personal conviction. “I won’t hide. And I won’t let them hurt an innocent the same way they did me.”

“Is she innocent?” Harriet asked, eyeing the Doctor. “She’s a mage’s apprentice and from what our sources indicate, working from mage texts. Perhaps they’re using you.”

Rose had already contemplated that and dismissed it. Her intuition leaned toward trusting the Doctor more than any guild.

“Mages don’t like me and are hardly willing to let me bumble through something they want. As much as I appreciate you standing up for me when everything blew up, I’m doubting you’re here on some grand gesture to save me,” Rose admitted calmly despite the tension headache and worry about impending doom. “You and I have always gotten on Harriet. I’ve spent the last four years staying quite neutral. If one thing sets me off, it’s an innocent in trouble and power-hungry evil trying to consume my world. I’ll stand against that even if it leads to the guilds.” 

The Doctor cracked the slightest smile at her, standing even taller. Harriet, on the other hand, seemed less understanding.

“We agree, no one should possess the power to remake the world. You’ve experienced it once, burning through you. You more than anyone know if the mages find a way to harness it or to power their particular kind of focusing devices, all of us are in grave danger.” 

“That’s not going to happen. I wouldn’t let it,” the Doctor finally spoke up. Rose believed him. So defending him wasn’t that hard.

“We’re here to save Donna and stop the Skaros. That’s all.”

“Two people who’ve been exposed to pure bioenergy, the source of us all, are on a mission to intercept it once again. One is a mage known for irreverence with a mercurial personality, and an aversion to authority.”

“Two of us?” Rose whipped around to find the Doctor brimming with power, controlled, and calculated, focused on Harriet. “Stop it,” Rose commanded. 

He clenched his fists before rolling his shoulders. “It’s not like Priestess Jones says.”

His voice deepened but Rose caught a slight tick in his eye. Fuck, but she knew he hid something. Rose had been blind to it by what she thought were good intentions. She needed to get rid of Harriet first. Then she’d deal with the Doctor. 

“Harriet, I give you my word, I won’t let the mages take control of anything. If anyone can do that it’s me. You’re right, I know what it feels like for the life stream to erupt until your brain about melts. And I know how to send it back.”

Her words ricocheted in this room like ammunition. “The mages already tried to arrest me. They watch my home and are up my arse six ways to Sunday. But they can’t stop this. I can. I’m saving Donna Noble and ending this. You can tell the sisterhood that’s what’s going to happen.”

“I believe you believe that,” Harriet stated, a sad tone in her voice. “We cannot save you again. And we know if you face the Skaros again, you risk your life and the lives of those you love. As with all magic, there is a price to be paid. If you do this, it is without us or the Arcadians.” 

“You want us to do nothing?” the Doctor barked. “Typical.” 

Rose suddenly felt the ground waver as everyone seemed to turn against her. No safety net. No safe home with her garden to comfort her. Everyone wanted her to fail, die or be locked up it appeared. Except the Doctor and she wasn’t sure if that was a good or bad thing now. 

“I understand. And so we’re clear, when I’ve saved Donna and stopped this, I want to be left alone. No more spies, forced meetings, or locking me up for your examination. I’m not affiliated with anyone. I want peace, Harriet. I think I’ve earned that.”

“You will never know peace, Rose Tyler. Of that we are sure. I will report your intentions and my belief you have spoken to me honestly. Chaos lingers in an uncertain future. Temptation lay in your path as much as death, of you and all of us. When the time comes, choose wisely with your heart. It’s the only chance you have. 

“And as for you Doctor,” Harriet’s face hardened, “We will not stand idle and allow the mages to break the covenant of our three guilds. You cannot stand in the abyss, unaffiliated and you cannot change what you’ve done. Your fate is tied to hers. If she falls, so will you and it will be much more unpleasant for you. We’ll see to that.” 

The silence from the Doctor was heavy and filled the train station. Harriet wrapped her cloak around herself and stepped back into the shadows followed by a whirlwind of bats swooping down until both Rose and the Doctor ducked. The lights flickered and the sound of a train arriving broke the quiet. 

“Always a fun dealing with the Pythia,” the Doctor noted, a hand on her elbow as Rose straightened. She yanked it away. 

“No more games. There’s no room for it now. Not with the Skaros out there.” The Doctor cracked a smile.

“Thought you’d say that.” 

“You can carry my pack.” She shoved it at him. “Let’s get our seats. We’ve got a long ride.”

She marched toward where the train rolled to a stop, not bothering to see if he followed her. Rose knew he would. They sat in the back of the car away from the few travelers who boarded with them. Rose took the window seat and shivered. The Doctor arrived with tea and a bounty of treats. 

“Best I could do.” He dumped them on the pull-down trays. “Where do you want to start.” 

“You offering info without me prying it out of you, that’s a nice change.” She dumped cream in her tea and tore the crinkly wrapping of a bag of crisps. Better than nothing. “Explain what Harriet said.”

“Which part.” He peeled a banana, seemingly focused on his meal. 

“The part where you’ve been exposed to bioenergy.”

He didn’t’ respond right away, staring straight ahead.

“I’m not judging you,” Rose tacked on.

“It was a long time ago. Decades.” Rose shoved aside her crisps. 

“You’re not that old.” She scrutinized him and he turned to her, sighed and leaned in close.

“Look at me.” It wasn’t a command, but Rose couldn’t look away. He inhaled, shut his eyes and then opened them. There it was, the hint of life, power that filled Rose, only it arced between them, intimate, chaotic and Rose flinched backward.

“Sorry. I don’t have a garden to focus my energy in like some. I have to keep it buried inside.” He tapped his temple before sliding a finger along his wand. “My sonic wand is sort of my focus if things get too much.” 

Rose could barely comprehend the depth and overwhelming waves of life she’d felt roll off him. She’d only felt something similar from one other person. Only that had been like un yielding iron embedded in the Earth. The Doctor, he was…what Harriet said.

“She called you a storm.” He snorted. 

“Fanciful priestess she is.” Rose reached for her tea and swished it in the mug. 

“The Sisterhood relies on organic connections to nature, the innate second sense humans often talk about. Not telepathy, but they understand what gives life and what takes it away better than most,” Rose lectured. 

“They’re a bit too interested in you,” he noted. “Their envy of your garden aside, they don’t want you in the hands of the mages, much less what you might be capable of.” 

“Do the mages know about you?” He slunked down in his seat, tossing banana peel on the table as he licked his fingers.

“They don’t know all of it. No one does. Mages focus on what they can control, build and make happen. There’s no room for random or chaotic mages like me.” 

“Want to tell me how this happened?” 

“Do you?” he countered. Stalemate. And one she wasn’t ready to push.

“No, at least not out loud here or tonight. Let’s just say I think we have something in common. That even when I said you couldn’t help me at Wilf’s, you somehow did. And I’m wondering if I needed help again, could you ground me?”

“I don’t know.”

His answer was honest but stark. Rose would have to be good with that for now. She reached for his hand. Maybe to confirm they were as in sync as she thought. Or, as much as she didn’t want to admit it, she liked the contact. 

Their connection went beyond the Skaros or Donna. How he cradled her in his arms and called her love, made her think he felt it too. It scared her how quickly the two fell into whatever this was.

“My head’s killing me and I need to replenish. Are you good keeping an eye on things?” He looked at her and his face softened. 

“I won’t betray you.” 

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep.” She pulled her hand away. 

“Harkness will,” he warned.

Rose snuggled down in her seat, head against the window and shadowed landscape streaming by them.

“Told you, Jack owes me and he’s a friend who understands what it’s like to be an outcast with all the various guilds plotting against you. He’s tired of being alone. And if you’re suggesting you are what I think, you might want to be nice to him. Being alone gets old fast.” Rose didn’t hear his response if he gave one, falling into deep blessedly dreamless sleep.

-o-o-o-

Being alone was something the Doctor was an expert at. So was seeking companionship, but at a distance. Donna had broken past carefully erected walls meant to keep him safe from emotional entanglements. Like Rose who was turning into one serious complication.

Bloody hell, Donna was too. He flicked his sonic wand into a soothing setting meant to help him meditate. Except he was on guard duty.

“K-9.” His oldest friend rolled up him.

“Master.” 

“Run a scan for weapons and any fluctuations in atmosphere, biorhythmic spikes, elevated heart rates, unusual electromagnetic readings and vibrations not typical for train travel.”

“Scan running.” 

He spun his wand in his fingers, seeking a distraction from the blond powerhouse snoring quietly…recharging she called it. He never thought of it that way, but then he didn’t like sleep. Avoided it when he could. Too many nightmares and a loss of control. Tonight especially, after Harriet paid her little warning visit. 

Pythia. As if they cared about anything but what they’d get from Rose. Where were they when he lost Donna? If they were so worried, why not offer him help? Guild politics. The very idea burned in his gut. 

He was only loosely associated with the mages and only because of family and heritage. He kept distant except for Donna. If he could go back in time and kick himself, he would, and punch himself straight in the mouth as well. Stupid. Showing off to her, enjoying the clash of words and ideas made him sloppy. Now he’d dragged Rose into the mess.

“Scans complete. No unusual activities detected.” 

“Thanks K-9. Keep scans open and let me know if anything shows up.” 

He set his wand down and allowed the meditation setting to seep past his mental discipline. The iron clad lock down he kept himself in crumbled around Rose leaving him out of sorts.

He watched her, nose wrinkle as she snored and burrowed into his shoulder. All too easy to curl up and take comfort. She might let him. But that would lead to intimacy greater than they already shared, which he doubted she understood. Oh, he did. Practically threw open the gates to her. Almost. 

She had questions she rightfully wanted answers to. He flinched as the sensory memories hovered at the edges of his mind. Damn Harriet for dredging it up. Rose let it go for now. She was tired and raw as him, especially after Wilf who he’d be having a long chat with after this mess was over. If he survived.

Enemies left and right made him wonder if maybe this would finally be his end. The only glitch in finding an end was Rose and Donna. He could end. It wasn’t like he’d lived long enough already. But not them.

A floral scent mixed with vanilla caught him off guard, pulling him out of dark thoughts. Rose was the kicker in this one. The solution and the problem. The temptation. The mystery he needed to solve and maybe help solve him.

She’d not revealed her past to him any more than he had his to her. He had an inkling they were somehow linked even if the moment that changed him took place well before hers. Which then led him to think on Harkness. 

What in all of the known universe could Rose have on the seductive playboy immortal known and feared by the Guilds. He controlled the shadowy realm of unaffiliated magic users. Black market products were his income as where connections in the human world he forged long ago when he found himself unable to die. 

Too many questions and not enough answers. His mind sank toward the unconscious state he avoided. He hadn’t slept since he met Rose. A train was not the best place. 

“K-9, if your readings spike, wake me up.”

“Affirmative.” 

His head lolled closer to Rose until something like peace seeped into and around him. The golden mists of life, the sweet smell of earth and growing things that Rose offered surrounded him. Almost like a dream, a memory that ended with him surrounded by death.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiya all! And the Mages aren't done yet. Jack has arrived!
> 
> Next part ended up too long for one chapter so there may be one long chapter and one that's a bit shorter unless I mush two together. The chapter that causes the explicit rating is coming up.

Rose awakened to pink and yellow light painting the horizon outside the window. The Doctor slept beside her, curled into her side, his wand humming on the pull-down tray in front of him. 

She caught a glint off K-9 next to him. At least he hadn’t left them completely vulnerable. She yawned and stretched kinks out of her neck. Not the best way to sleep but she’d gotten enough rest to ease her headache and help organize her thoughts. Especially about the Doctor. 

She needed to push him for answers before they got much further. Which meant she had to talk about her trauma. She’d need coffee for that. Her stomach growled. 

“Sleep well?” his voice startled her. Talk about going from deep sleep to awake. Normal people had a good blurry needs caffeine zone. Like her. 

“No bad, my fearless sleeping guard.” She nudged him with her elbow. 

“It was just a cat nap,” he said with a touch of defensive lilt in his voice.

She rolled her eyes and checked her mobile, finding a quick worried text from Martha which she responded to with a vague affirmation of being all right. She wasn’t, but there was no reason to worry Martha. There was also a gif of lewd orchids winking at her from an unknown number that could only be Jack. He always knew when she was on her way, no notice necessary.

“We should be in Calufrax Minor in another thirty minutes. I need the loo and breakfast.” 

“I might be a bit short after last night,” he admitted sheepishly. 

“God, you’re a cheap date,” she teased. Rose pulled a few notes out and held it just out of his reach. “You know, I’m going to want compensation after this is done.” 

“Course,” he said but from the slight flinch she suspected her compensation was saving a life. 

“Coffee, cream and something with more nutritional value than crisps or biscuits.”

After a trip to the cramped loo, cleaning up, reapplying make up, and a brush through the hair Rose felt somewhat ready for whatever came next. And it wasn’t Jack Harkness that worried her. 

It was more about what secrets the Doctor had and how the Pythia had paid them a warning call. Pythia didn’t typically do that. Mage, yes, Arcadians sometimes but Pythia tended to be more observe, and announce dire warnings to the general population. Not have the high priestess come for an in your face you are all going to die lecture. 

And Rose had some unpleasant nightmares to top it all off. Mostly about shivering and cold Donna locked in some place so dark, she couldn’t see anything. Luckily, the Doctor made amends coming back with a breakfast sandwich, muffins and something resembling coffee. 

“Got anything else you want to tell me before we meet Jack?” she asked after perking up post coffee.

“K-9 kept an eye on things. Peaceful train trip. Just humans arguing, sleeping and making bad dating choices.” 

Rose sat back and gave him a smile. She needed a light moment. Sometimes it was hard to remember the rest of the world went on living their lives, having beans on toast. 

“Any thoughts on Harriet’s visit?” she asked.

“If the Pythia know what we’re up to, so do the Mages and Arcadians.” 

“Right, so expect a welcoming committee at the station,” Rose acknowledged. “Although, Mages don’t like Jack’s Tribophysical waveform macro-kinetic extrapolator shielding so there shouldn’t be an all-out attack. Jack also doesn’t like them in his town,” Rose mused. “Arcadians do a lot of business there though.”

“Doesn’t surprise me, they’ve always been sort of the middle line between Mages and Pythia.” 

“Martha’s Arcadian and I’ve not had any issues with them.” Rose confided.

“Like you have the Mages and the Pythia,” the Doctor completed. Rose polished off her breakfast and shrugged.

“Haven’t really had issues with any but the Mages. Pythia have their interests though.” 

“I’ve got your back.” Rose gave him a long quiet look. “I do.” 

He shifted uncomfortably, thrusting his long legs out into the aisle.

“I know what Harriet said sounded bad. My goal is to save Donna, stop the Skaros and get us all home safe,” he stated with assurance.

“Mine too,” Rose agreed. “With as little scarring as possible. Didn’t quite happen my last experience in the Forest of Cheem. And by the look in your eyes, you’ve got plenty of scars too.” 

The train slowed and the stop was announced. The Doctor didn’t respond to Rose’s gentle prod at his history. Instead, he stood and grabbed her bag. He was too quiet for her comfort. 

One thing was clear, she needed to watch him and make sure he didn’t do anything irrational. He had a familiar look that screamed he stood on the proverbially ledge, ready to jump into the abyss and damn the consequences. No one knew how quickly your head did you in more than her. 

She was already on edge herself. Being in a train always amplified her paranoia, and frayed her nerves. She fully admitted on this quest she was ready to clobber first and talk later. She needed her feet on the ground. 

Of course, once she did that, the next problem surrounded her literally.

-o-o-o-

“Yvonne Hartman,” the Doctor spat the name like the vile curse she was. If the Pythia sent their high priestess, it only made sense the Mages would break their own rules and send one of their enforcers. It wasn’t like she hadn’t been sent after the Doctor before. 

“Doctor, this is of course, not a pleasure. You and the outcast are summoned to answer before the high council.”

“For what?” Rose asked. Yvonne ignored her. 

“You took an apprentice without approval and endangered her life and the entirety of our order. Irresponsible and so very you. Not that I won’t benefit from the bounty placed on your heads. Now then, how violent is this going to be?”

Tall, thin, and refined, Yvonne would pass for royalty in the human world. To him, she was the worst of their kind. She also appeared to rub Rose the wrong way.

“Considering I’ve got nothing to do with any missing apprentice, you’ll excuse me if I’m on my way,” Rose brashly stated and his affection blossomed into something close to love. Now there was a sobering thought.

“I see we’ve chosen the messy, violent option,” Yvonne stated with a salacious glee that was so typical of her.

The Doctor felt a distinct vibration under his feet through the concrete and bet it wouldn’t take long for whatever Rose summoned to erupt and send Yvonne flying. Rose was practically flirting with him.

“Rose and I don’t take orders from the Council and I’m an associate member, not subject to dodgy Mage politics.” The Doctor responded, a jittery sensation racing in his limbs as Rose bumped her hand against his.

“Love me a good fuck you to the Mages. You just got bonus points.” Rose gave him that cheeky tongue tipped smile that he swore leveled up his magic. K-9 took position on his other side as five people dressed in black with shiny black motorcycle helmets moved in. 

“Last time I checked, Mages didn’t have authority in Callufrax Minor.” The Arcadians entered the playing field.

“Sarah Jane,” Rose said, smiling even broader and her mood lightened dramatically. So did the Doctor’s. Of all the Arcadians, she was one he didn’t mind dealing with. 

“Nice seeing you again, Sarah,” he acknowledged. “We’re having us a bit of a chin wag here with mage bounty hunter Hartman.” His mood lightened even more at Yvonne’s jaw clenching scowl at Sarah Jane.

“If that’s what you call it. The Arcadian Council objects to any political or judicial action by the Mages on anything to do with Rose Tyler and her association with the Doctor. We and the Pythia are in agreement that any intervention will be a collective effort.” 

“Mages don’t take orders from anyone least of all a group of spiritual fanatics or your inferior potion barkeeps,” Yvonne issued with a haughty disdain.

“Oh my God,” Rose groaned. “I’m gonna gag on the ego. And I’d like to point out we wouldn’t all be here if the three Guilds had formed an alliance to deal with the Skaros in the first place.”

Everyone went dead silent and stared at her. Fuck. Rose shouldn’t have confirmed their adversary. 

“Rose, your probation is based on not being involved with anything to do with the events in the Forest of Cheem,” Sarah Jane said with a touch of sharpness.

“My probation?” Rose responded, clenching her fists until the ground practically buckled beneath them.

“Sarah, Rose is only here—” 

“Miss Tyler,” a tall dark-haired man in a navy suit accompanied by another group of buff guard types approached, interrupting any of the Doctor’s valid excuses. 

“Welcome to Calufrax Minor,” the posh dark-haired man continued. “Captain Harkness apologizes for not greeting you personally. He was unfortunately detained on business, but is looking forward to your company.” 

“She’s not going anywhere but with us,” Yvonne announced, as her group pulled out nasty looking batons that hummed. 

“Rose, I must insist you explain,” Sarah Jane added. 

“Rose doesn’t have to explain anything.” The Doctor redirected attention to him. She’s here visiting an old friend. I’m sure you both are familiar with The Immortal.” For the first time, the Doctor was glad they were in Jack’s domain.

“That overrated cheat’s days are numbered,” Yvonne boldly stated. 

“Is that a threat?” the dark-haired man asked as suddenly the Doctor Rose and Sarah Jane found themselves in a standoff between two armed parties. 

“There’s no need for any of this,” Sarah Jane insisted. “And despite the Doctor’s attempt to silence her, I’d like to hear from Rose.” 

“Like he said, I’m here to visit my friend, Captain Harkness, who I have a business relationship with,” Rose enunciated. “Jack and me go back a couple of years and I haven’t broken an agreement with anyone.” 

“You’re helping the Doctor in an act in violation of Mage laws,” Yvonne quickly added. “That’s aiding and abetting a criminal and colluding against the Mage council, a direct violation of—”

“Oh sod off,” Rose interjected and the Doctor full on acknowledged, yep so in love with her. 

“My alleged probation is a pile of shite considering I was a victim and found not at fault by all your lofty and almighty councils. I have nothing to do with any of you and mind my own business. And if one of your mages, no matter what his association or rank comes and asks to consult with me on his project, why shouldn’t I? And especially given that it appears you all have failed to not only protect me but everyone from the one group that attacked me in the first place.” 

The Doctor felt heat rise from the ground and the metal train track creak as metal began to glow. 

“So, you go back to your enclaves and tell them they failed me. Whatever you have against the Doctor here is between you and him. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got private business. Ianto shall we?”

“With pleasure,” he inclined his head. Yvonne looked ready to spit iron. The Doctor inched behind Rose, keeping an eye on all of them until he approached Sarah Jane. 

“We aren’t causing anything Sarah. Tell the Arcadians to keep mindful of the Skaros.”

“They’re disbanded,” she responded, eyeing Rose greet Ianto with familiarity and a hug. 

“We think they’re back. Don’t know how. Be careful.” 

“Yes, well we always are and as it so happens, I have business here as well.” 

Before the Doctor could follow Rose, he was hit by a bolt of energy searing in his shoulder.  
“Not so fast! You’re coming with me,” Yvonne called out.

He fell to the ground, a searing jolt coursing from his back to his chest until he gritted his teeth, his awareness fogged. Except he did notice, the platform cracked beneath him. Sarah Jane and Rose stood shoulder to shoulder and a mist rose up. 

“You’ve violated the law I’m afraid,” Ianto informed Yvonne with the slightest sign of enjoyment. “As such you are hereby banished until apologies and reparations are made to Captain Harkness.” 

“You bastards!” Yvonne shouted as blue beams of light encircled her and her thugs and they disappeared. 

“You all right?” Rose knelt by him. 

“What the hell was that?” he asked, struggling against pain lancing across his back. 

“Transmat technology. Jack doesn’t put up with that kind of violence in his territory.” 

“We should move this to a more comfortable location,” Ianto offered.

“I’d help but I’m afraid, this has become quite political and divisive. I need to speak to my Guild immediately,” Sarah Jane squeezed Rose’s shoulder before stepping away. 

“Understood,” Rose agreed. “Please let them know we mean no harm to anyone. If we’re asked properly, we’ll answer questions. Now if you’ll excuse us, I have an injured partner.” The Doctor couldn’t help grinning at the word despite the pain traveling across his chest and eventually plunging him into unconsciousness.

-o-o-o-

Exhaustion and flashbacks to the Skaros nearly consumed Rose as they carted the Doctor to Jack’s home. His leather coat bore the unpleasant odor of an electrical burn like lightning striking a tree. 

Mages getting violent was never good. And that showed some desperation as well. Donna must have found and unlocked quite the secret. Maybe one they couldn’t figure out for themselves. That would certainly twist someone’s knickers. And scared them to act irrationally and possibly one of them colluding with the Skaros to take Donna which scrambled Roses nerves worse. At least she had some measure of security at Jack’s home, well castle really. Well party castle was even better. 

They were several floors up from the ballroom and the numerous people calling on the infamous Immortal to cut deals, trade or curry favor. And no one enjoyed trading favors more than Jack Harkness. He thrived on the crowds, the games, the gossip and the indulgence. Hopefully in the midst of all the chaos, he’d be able to help them. Rose suspected he would for the excitement and thrill. After all, he wasn’t called The Immortal for nothing and that meant a very long life where things sometimes got repetitive. 

The Doctor moaned and she moved to the king-sized bed where they’d dropped him. Ianto, Jack’s current primary lover and confidant, helped Rose to peel off his coat and jumper revealing a nasty beat red elongated mark from his shoulder down to the middle of his back. 

She’d immediately asked for turmeric, cloves, ginger, lemon grass and eucalyptus with a bottle of whiskey for her. One poultice applied and a shot of whiskey and Rose collapsed onto the bed next to him. 

God, what a day and it was only morning. Weirdly, she wasn’t scared so much as tired and irritated. But not with the Doctor who she tried not to ogle which was bloody difficult. 

All muscles and chiseled lines, with a few scars criss crossing his back, he tested her resolve. A reminder that being a magic hermit left one missing the carnal pleasures and that certain devices sometimes didn’t satisfy as well as a partner. 

Four horribly long years where she hadn’t had much of anyone. Well she and Jack got drunk one night and had some fun. After all, there weren’t many people they could let loose with what lay inside them. Friends with benefits, was her and Jack. Funny how most of the time it was talking or her having dinner with him and Yan marathoning the latest human television series getting magic all wrong. It was nice to have them to curl up with every once and a while.

She looked at the Doctor’s hands, strong, calloused fingers and her mind went straight to sex and heat pooled between her thighs. It wouldn’t be a lark with him like it was with Jack. It would be intense and deeply satisfying. 

The Doctor moaned and she rolled on her side to find blue eyes burning into her. 

“How are you feeling?” she asked.

“Been better.” He shifted, removing the poultice and rolled over before pressing it to his nose. “This your work then?” She shrugged and stretched reaching for her glass of whiskey. 

“Where’s Harkness?” he asked and winced, sitting up just as the door burst open and the man himself arrived in a swoosh of spice laden air and swish of his long coat.

“And what gorgeous creature has Rose Tyler brought to my realm?” Rose felt an immediate relief and rolled off the bed to give Jack a hug and a snog. Their usual. She swore she heard a growl from the Doctor. How interesting. 

“Jack, this is the Doctor.” 

“Quite,” Jack purred with all the innuendo he was known for his gaze raking up the Doctor’s long frame. 

“He’s injured,” Rose reminded her friend, dressed in his typical outfit from when he was in the war. 

Jack once told her he had fond memories of his service and thus he kept the long navy trousers, dress shirt a long blue coat. Although she did catch him in black leather trousers and silk top not long ago.

“We had a run in with the Mages.” 

“So I heard. Bringing trouble into my territory isn’t you’re thing so I’m guessing it’s our hot Mage here. Who has quite the interesting gossip following him.”

“Oh?” Now Rose was intrigued. Not that she wasn’t before, but after the past few days, and considering she might have decided to cross the line with the Doctor, she needed to know more about him even if he wasn’t ready to talk. 

“That’s not why we’re here” the Doctor snapped and reached to pull on his navy jumper before scowling at his singed coat. 

Jack looped an arm around Rose, seemingly relaxed but Rose got a definite stress vibe off him. Not usual for him at all. 

“Yes, you’re here for help. Funny how I had to chase off a gaggle of mages already. Quite a tab you’ve got going with me.” 

“Jack,” Rose groaned. Two men acting like gits she couldn’t handle. Not without a little more whiskey to dull the oncoming headache, 

“Don’t recall asking for help.” The Doctor waved his wand, making its typical trilling noise over his coat until the leather was repaired. 

“No, you were too busy collapsed and grimacing.” Jack turned to Rose. “Let’s talk in private.” 

“Rose and I are in this together and we don’t have time for any dallying. A life is in danger.” 

“It’s the Skaros, Jack.” His reaction was expected, hard, vibrating with anger and he directed it at the Doctor.

“What has he dragged you into?” Protective Jack emerged which not many people witnessed. The Doctor didn’t look impressed and Rose had to intervene and quickly. 

“They’ve taken the Doctor’s illegal apprentice, ticking off the mages, and scaring the piss out of just about everyone. It’s sounding familiar Jack, and you know what tomorrow is.” 

“If you can’t help us then we’re leaving and you. And you, Miss Tyler, need to tell me what tomorrow is,” the Doctor ordered, jamming his arms into his coat.

“Doomsday,” Jack supplied with a somewhat acidic tone. 

Rose peeled out of his grip and walked over for the bottle. Not bothering with a glass, she tipped it to her lips and grimaced as it burned down her throat. Not unlike what happened four years ago. 

“Rose,” the Doctor’s voice deepened to that Mage command thing they did. 

“You haven’t told me your story, Doctor.” 

“So, are you two here for therapy?” Jack asked, arms held out like he wanted to hug everyone and knowing Jack he would. Until his arms slapped his sides. “Not that we have time for that. I’ve heard rumblings something was up but no specifics. If this is the Skaros, you can’t waltz in there with emotional baggage. You’ve got to be focused. Get some of the tension out.” A wicked smile emerged. “Getting tension out is my specialty with sexually repressed bioenergy oracle types.” 

“What did you say?” the Doctor who had snatched the bottle and took a swig suddenly gave Jack his full attention. 

“You don’t know what you are? What we are? Of course, I’m more the demi god variety, eternal life, the living fountain of youth spreading the love.” Jack swaggered over clamping both of them on the shoulders. “You two are so cute, all bound up and pretending. That’s never gonna work.” He turned to Rose.

“We’ve talked about this. Celibacy and festering in pain and resentment at your lot in life isn’t healthy. Not for long lived creatures. So let me guess, you have an idea where this apprentice is being held and are about to gallop in to save her and defeat the big bad who probably wants to suck you both dry of power for immorality and domination over the world, which would make life for me unpleasant.” 

“We need help pin pointing where she is and getting there fast and without them knowing,” Rose revealed. “And we need some stuff you might have to help protect us and Donna.” 

“Donna being the lady in distress,” Jack acknowledged. 

“Rose is right, we need to nail down location and talk strategy. We don’t have time for domestics or whatever else you do here.” The Doctor stalked across the room, bottle in hand. 

Rose’s headache grew. “You sure” Jack asked, hands on her shoulders. 

“I won’t leave her, Jack.” 

The Doctor’s face softened in response. Jack directed one hard look at him and before Rose could complain about protective men, Jack seemed to reach a decision and squeezed her shoulders.

“I know this isn’t what you want and you’re going to do it with or without help, which I’ll always give you. But sweetheart, what you want and what you get don’t always mesh. I’ll help, but I’ll always put you first.” 

“Now would be good,” the Doctor snapped. Jack smiled and winked at the Doctor before leaning in close to Rose.

“I’m happy for you. He’s a bit scowly, but quite the nice package.” 

With another good dose of flirt, Jack led them out toward his safe room, a personal enclave only one other person than Rose had seen. The Doctor stomped beside her. Of course, if he grabbed her hand, she wasn’t complaining. A little dark and possessive Doctor might be what she needed.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This installment was originally two back stories but it was way too long for one chapter. So you have this chapter which is very long and the next which will be shorter. Chapter 14 will be explicit things because after I put them both through reliving horrible things, they need some loving.
> 
> Thanks everyone for all the lovely comments and kudos. I hope you continue to enjoy. And yes, Donna appears eventually and there is some snark because Donna's not impressed with her rescue. 
> 
> There may be a delay in posting schedule as work is eating my brain and I hurt my finger which I don't think is broken but I have a hard time typing with it. Stupid vacuum accident.

“K-9 stay,” The Doctor ordered, hand clamped onto Rose’s hand.

The Doctor was beyond his tolerance as events unraveled around him at an epic rate, and not in the fun way. Generally, he enjoyed a little fun ride on the unexpected. Not with Donna’s life on the line. And not with Rose in danger either. 

Granted, Rose seemed fine, if a tad on the tipsy side. He couldn’t blame her for a few swigs of whiskey when they were about to face the enemy that had, by all accounts, nearly killed her. And he really needed to know the details of what happened. Because decades ago, he thought he’d put a dent in their ranks. 

He had the impression Rose thought she did too. Adding to his aggravation, his shoulder ached and itched from being shot. Bloody stupid he was. Letting Yvonne of all people get the jump on him. Overconfident like he had been with Donna. He wouldn’t fall into that trap with Rose. Not that she let him. She was one thing keeping him in check. 

Even then, as Harkness led them down a narrow spiral stone staircase. Dimly lit, it only fit one person at a time with Rose in front, guiding him. He still didn’t trust Harkness. Suspicion and jealousy burned in the pit of his stomach. He had no claim on Rose. Yet part of him yearned to. It tugged low in his abdomen when he woke up in bed with her next to him. Quite the realization, how in just a few days, Rose Tyler became more than an ally, a seeker and friend. 

Maybe it was on the train. A few embers of intimacy had been forged, like white hot steel, solidifying them toward a destiny. And he bloody hated destiny. It had not been kind to him. 

“You all right back there?” Harkness called, his voice echoing as they descended into what the Doctor hoped wasn’t some sadomasochistic dungeon. 

“We’re fine, Jack,” Rose answered for him and paused to look up. “It’s gonna be okay,” she assured. “I know you’re out of sorts and don’t trust Jack, but he’s been around a lot longer than us. And he’s no fan of the guilds or the Skaros. He’s helped me when no one else could.” 

The Doctor nodded not wanting to say anything Harkness could hear. After a long trek downward, they emerged past a heavy age darkened oak door with black metal hinges, into an empty room with a dirt floor, leaving a scent of earth coating his tongue. It was more a meditation room which didn’t fit the image of The Immortal. Rose tugged him further in while Jack touched hanging metal lanterns that glowed golden. 

“Lumineri Lantern,” the Doctor commented. “Exciting sub atomic matter with life force. Very new age.” 

“I’m over smoke from oil and torches,” Jack confided, tapping the last of the lanterns hanging above them. “Brings back unpleasant memories, not to mention it’s terrible for the complexion.” He rubbed at his smooth square jaw and winked at the Doctor who rolled his eyes at the gesture. 

“Smoke makes me sneeze,” Rose added and wrinkled her nose before letting go of his hand which the Doctor didn’t like. 

She circled the room as Jack stood at the far end of the room leaning against the stone wall staring at him. 

“What?” he finally asked. 

“You don’t have to hide here. No one violates your personal space or secrets. Except me, if you want.” The thick innuendo shattered the Doctor’s calm. 

“We don’t have time for this. Either help us or we’re leaving.” 

Jack laughed, a big thigh slapping affair that itched at the Doctor’s neck until he wanted to bolt up the stairs away from this dim, claustrophobic dungeon. 

“Not helping,” Rose said before standing in the center of the room, drawing a rune in the dirt. “Neither are you Jack.” Rose rubbed her palms nervously on her hips, looking at him with expectation.

“She’s right. And you need to loosen up or your friend Donna won’t make it.” Jack shifted from seducer to serious in a blink of an eye. 

“This isn’t the time for a party. We need—” 

“To prepare” Jack interrupted, pushing off the wall. “This isn’t about physical force. We know they can’t be defeated that way. Saw that in the last great war.” 

Memories crashed into the Doctor like a lorry. The war to end all wars, and it had ended his family. As the flashback nearly overtook him, Rose grasped both his hands.

“Look at me.” 

“I can’t,” the Doctor choked out. “This place, it’s—"

“Quiet,” she answered simply. “Helps you deal with what’s inside. Jack brought me here to help me deal with the memories and guilt and anger from the worst day of my life. I was alone then but Jack made sure I felt—” Rose’s voice hitched and he squeezed her hands as they trembled. “Not alone. It’s hard for us to bear so much in the outside world. But we’re not alone in this.”

“Neither of you is ready for this until you understand each other, what you are and, what we all are,” Jack insisted with a hint of bitterness in his voice. “Guilds don’t matter, neither do houses or enclaves or whatever you want to call it. I know because I’ve seen it, over a millennium of the rise and fall of humans, and our kind.”

Jack moved without a sound or a hint he neared, unnerving the Doctor. Or maybe it was how he referred to our kind. 

“The power hungry are a constant. Defeating them takes more than strong will. It takes an ability to be vulnerable and work together.” Jack’s voice softened. 

“Who did you lose?” the Doctor asked, realizing how he misjudged the man based on an illusion, a well-worn disguise. 

“Everyone,” he answered with a flat tone that struck through the Doctor with such honesty and sorrow. He understood or thought he did. 

“I’ve told Jack some of what happened but I…. I’ve never told anyone the whole truth,” Rose confided, kicking at the dirt. “Why I’m alone, built up so many walls to protect me and my family. I have to save Donna no matter what because I know what they’ll do to her.” 

The Doctor’s throat thickened until he could barely breathe at the pain glistening in her eyes. This was trauma he felt on a visceral level. Even if he didn’t know the details, and it called a protective, vengeful power, to the surface even as he fought to control it. 

“There’s a way to share the past without speaking,” Jack said in measured words. “It’s not something I’d suggest under normal circumstances, but we aren’t normal people. The Blessing doesn’t choose just anyone, ya know.”

“Blessing, I don’t call it that,” Rose said softly. “More like a rip your life apart and be conscripted into service to fight a battle I don’t even rightly understand.”

“It’s the only battle worth fighting,” Jack said. 

“Power isn’t a blessing, more a curse,” Rose said with a bitterness the Doctor breathed each day. Somehow, it hurt worse hearing her verbalize what he felt.

“I’m with Rose. And you Jack, you feel blessed having this power poured in until it almost consumes you?” The Doctor asked. 

“I am the Blessing and the Blessing is me,” he answered simply. “You two, and others like you, you’re conduits, chosen by a power you’ll never understand, to learn and protect this world and all life on it. I was at the source and let’s just say, you got off easy.”

“Explain,” the Doctor demanded.

“You already know what’s inside you even if you won’t admit it.” Jack easily navigated around answering anything about his past.

“I think we need to focus on Donna.” Rose quickly redirected and the Doctor had to admire how on task she remained even after the past few days they’d had.

“Agreed,” Jack nodded. “You both have the ability to save Donna and the world. If what I’ve heard is true, it’s the same power-hungry bastards that keep coming back no matter how many times they’re put down and at great cost.” That stopped the Doctor dead. 

“How many times?” he demanded, his voice deepening with the surge of bitter resentment and emotion. 

“The Skaros and Davros,” Jack said with distaste to the Doctor’s slight shock. “They’ve been around longer than me. I don’t know how he keeps coming back. I hoped Rose had finally done it.”

If the Doctor wasn’t shaken and brimming with fury before, he was now. 

“Rose,” her name became his cause, his vow and eternal promise. He pulled her against his chest and wrapped his arms around her until her face nestled over his heart. She shook and clawed her hands into his coat.

“I’m sorry,” she gasped tears. “Hearing this again, now, on the anniversary of what they did to me, it’s hard to keep it together. We have to stop them. Please help me stop them.” 

He met a long, solemn look from the man he once thought no more than a con man and flirt. 

“You said there was another way. Sharing…you mean our minds?” 

“I have a memory stone. It acts as a conduit.” 

“You’ve used it?” the Doctor asked. 

“Too many memories. I couldn’t put that on anyone I cared about,” Jack admitted. The Doctor nodded. 

“Mine might be too much,” he said, offering Rose an out.

Rose pulled back and snorted. 

“Well I hope you’re ready because mine’s no picnic.” 

“I saw Rome fall, more wars than I can count,” Jack quipped. “You’re both kids to me and as bad as you think your past is, it’s not. Now sit and let’s do this. Then we talk strategy and get you to Donna.” 

“You’re not coming?” the Doctor asked. 

“I’m you’re back up and the only thing between you and the Guilds.” 

The Doctor couldn’t deny the logic. And a part of him took comfort. Not for himself, but for Rose and Donna. If he failed, they wouldn’t be left to deal with the Skaros alone.

“Let’s get this over with.” Trust Rose to be their taskmaster.

While Jack shoved aside a very cleverly hidden rock alcove, the Doctor dropped to the dirt floor with Rose. 

“You sure you’re okay with this?” he asked.

“No,” she answered and ran her palm across the dirt before sitting cross legged. “But I might know something that could help even if I don’t see it. I’m guessing you know something about the Skaros too.” 

He sat cross legged in front of her and rubbed his knees. 

“My past isn’t pretty. I’m no spring chicken.”

She barked out a hard laugh. Very Rose, so filled with life and potential. 

“I got that the first day you were at my door. Old mages have a feel to them. That being said, you’re not as old as Jack. He’s different than you.” 

“That why you and him are—” he trailed off and immediately regretted bringing it up. A smile blossomed on her face and she leaned back, lighter than she had been before. He was immersed in how much the woman resembled the flower. 

Gorgeous, alluring, but strong, and with her own brand of self-preservation. Don’t treat her right and she’ll bleed you. 

“Jack and me are mates. Of the we’re so fucked up club variety. And it’s nice to have someone to talk to sometimes without having to be on your guard from nasty Guild with ideas of using you. Jack doesn’t push.” 

“So, you’re not entirely a hermit.” 

“More a member of a long-distance club, hermits united, we meet up periodically to moan, get drunk and gossip about the Guilds. But not very often.” She quieted and some of the effervescence disappeared. “What about you?” 

“What about me?” he deflected, reaching up to itch at his healing shoulder. 

“Heal fast. Older than you look. Used to keeping people at a distance until Donna, I’m guessing. Being a hermit in a crowd can’t be easy.” 

“Ready?” Jack interrupted before he had to admit she was perceptive. 

An unassuming, black, polished river stone the size of an orange was placed between them. He let out a shaky breath before he met the questions and understanding in her eyes. Soulmate. The word popped into his head and he dismissed it. Mostly. He didn’t believe in such fairy tales. But many fairy tales were grounded in some truth. 

“Focus on the stone and your memory you want to share, and then let go.” 

“Let go?” Rose asked and he mirrored her discomfort. 

“If you don’t trust, this won’t work,” Jack lectured. 

The Doctor swallowed hard at that point and so did Rose as she drew symbols in the dirt. Symbols for strength and courage. 

“Trust isn’t easy, but I trust Rose.” He said it out loud affirming his belief in her. And it thrummed in him, that belief, easing long tensions and unease. By some miracle, she sat up and a soft smile emerged after she cocked her head, peering into him so deep he swore he felt a soft caress in his spirit. 

“I trust you not to hurt me, Doctor. I’m giving you access to the worst things that happened to me, and I ever did.” He reached over and grasped her hands. 

“We do this together.” Rose affirmed right before the world ebbed away until he was plunged into her memory, sitting at a desk in what appeared to be a police precinct facing a young PC with the name tag of Andy Davidson.

“I’m sorry to drag you into this Rose but it’s my cousin.”

It wasn’t unusual for Rose to be consulted on missing persons cases, but she knew the local police rolled their eyes at her. Andy was a friend of her roommate, Shareen, and had seen enough to believe Rose could help. He shoved his cousin’s diary across the table. 

“I didn’t want to snoop but my Aunt Liz, Miranda’s mum, is frantic. Didn’t look past the current stuff. It’s sort of personal and well, there’s a few things I didn’t need to know.” His face turned red.

Rose was taken by how he’d respected Miranda’s privacy and wanted to help him. Lightly running the pads of her fingers on the diary, she had a strong picture in her head. A smiling vivacious young woman with long back hair, pierced nose, brown eyes crinkling with a bubbling laugh. She opened the diary to the first page, feeling her way through the current entries. 

Miranda was meeting up with a friend she met online known only as Caan. The rendezvous was a park. Rose had the feeling of anticipation, disappointment and then cold, blackness and fear. Not good.

“Andy, have you checked out the park she mentioned?” She kept her voice neutral even though her insides turned to ice. 

“Yeah, even pulled up footage. I could see her walking down a path. It was misty out, around dusk. She passed a few people but then the footage got weird. The camera lens blurred and when it came back on, she was gone.”

Rose felt goosebumps raise. Andy was human and there was still much they didn’t understand. They only barely acknowledged magic users and even that was looked at askance. 

“Let’s head to the park. Mind if I carry the diary?”

“Anything that’ll help,” he answered easily and without any idea of how bad Rose felt this was about to turn.

It was late in the day, about the time Miranda disappeared, when they arrived at the public park, small, family friendly, in the midst of a quiet neighborhood. She should have known better than to enter a suspicious wooded area at dusk, much less wander off on her own as Andy stopped to chat with some walkers. 

She felt the familiar pull, the tether that moved her legs in a direction of what she was looking for. The tingles in her fingers grew as she approached thickets near the trees not far from a pond. Water, mist, green grass and a heaviness in the air all had the sensation of magic, the old organic kind. 

Her first thought was Fae. But they avoided public parks, disliking human activity or the chance someone would see them. It made for a messy encounter. She stepped closer as shadows stretched and a whiff of decay cemented her in place. 

Tears burned her eyes as she felt the last vestige of life from a once vibrant girl. Her hands clenched the diary as she caught the brown splatter of blood, blending into a pile of leaves. She screamed for Andy. An inky darkness whipped out around her until she couldn’t breathe. She dropped the diary as blackness took her.

She awakened to hell on earth. There was no doubt based on the weird chanting and black robes, the stuff her kind talked about to scare kids away from black magic. The Cult of Skaro and their elderly leader, practically a zombie, alive only by darkest magic. 

“Miss Tyler, welcome to the genius of my creation. “

Caught in a binding spell, surrounded on all sides by figures in black, eyes vacant as they worshipped their leader, Rose struggled to sit up.

“Did you kill Miranda?” She needed to keep them talking, to think of a way out of whatever she was in. 

“Sacrifices are necessary to achieve perfection.” 

“What perfection?” Oh she’d heard about their perfection. All of the magic world had. World domination, elevating the powerful around Davros as the center of everything. Reordering creation to their vision with humans as slaves and sacrifices to enhance their power. Life for life where they got it all.

“A world without chaos, one of order, my order. And you will help me to build that world.” He rasped in a rough voice.

“Me, you’ve got the wrong witch. I’m not that important or powerful.” 

“No, you’re not the least important. Ignorant and unworthy, but even the most ordinary may be forged into a tool for our use.” 

Rose didn’t like the sound of that. She darted glances through the crowd taking in tall trees lit by flickering oil lamps and leaf strewn ground beneath her. Nothing that looked like a weapon or a way out. 

“Look, I’m just a diviner so unless you’re looking for something--” 

“Indeed,” he answered quickly. “And you will help me find it. A simple vessel with no affiliations to any of guilds and ancestry seeded with ability to locate the lost, the hidden and that which the Earth chooses not to reveal.”

Shit this was really bad. 

“My family will come for me, I wasn’t’ alone in the park.”

“Your friend is dead and so will your mother be if you fail in your task.” 

Rose dug her fingers into the ground, grass, leaves and a spark of the natural world that grounded her. Water flowed beneath the surface, but that’s about all she could do, feel it, sense the roots of the old oaks around her, and fragments of something old buried nearby. 

But How did they move her so fast? A displacement spell. 

“You’re using Pythia methods and—” she sniffed a salty, putrid sweet smell. “Arcadian alchemy. What are you looking for?”

“My heritage,” he said in an old croaky voice and he limped into the dim light. 

It took everything for her not to gag. Zombie was the correct description as his flesh pulled tight until his head was more skull with sunken eyes and skin on his arm like paper hanging off in strips. “You will lead us to the Osterhagen Key.”

“Sorry to throw a wrench in your plans but man-made objects aren’t easily found without a connection.”

“The connection is in the earth, grounded in the eternal bioenergy that created us all. Your specialty, Miss Tyler. Enough delays, the time has come for our ascendance.”

A roar rose up and Rose covered her ears as it pounded through her, drilling into her brain. She couldn’t look or breath as they dragged her up.

“Lead!” he commanded. 

“But I don’t know what I’m looking for, what it feels like or looks like.”

“It is life, Miss Tyler, and it calls to those with the genetic capability of connecting to it. Like your father.”

“What?” She was shoved forward until she stumbled and fell to her knees. “That’s not helping!”

“Time is a luxury we don’t have. Neither does your mother as her life is drained into the lovely crystal amulet her friend Howard gave her. She wears it every day.”

Rose bolted up. “No.” She remembered that amulet. Her mum was thrilled. It had a particularly brilliant pink crystal. A good luck crystal. Her stomach cramped. 

“Every moment you delay she is closer to death.”

Tears wet her cheeks as panic clamped around her throat. 

“You said my Dad?” Rose froze in place and slowly turned her head. Skull face looked even more like the undead revealing yellow teeth. 

“He was less than cooperative and met his end rather than participate in the glory of Skaro. Let us hope, for your mother’s sake you are more cooperative.” 

Her blood drained at his suggestion. 

“You killed my Dad. But he was run over by a car.” 

“A necessary illusion to protect our mission. His lack of vision ruined your family’s prospects, and killed his paternal line. Leaving you, the chosen to be our emissary into eternity.”

Panic mixed with terror tore at her chest and ached deep into her bones. Her Dad. Her Mum. These wankers were mad.

She squeezed her eyes shut as panic and time ticked away. Her father refused to help them for a reason and they killed him. There had to be some way she could find what they wanted and leverage it against them.

Finding the way was the problem. She relied on the one thing that got her through so many bad times. Her memory of her father swinging her in the park. The wind gusting through the trees and laughing as she kicked higher and higher. The creak of the swing and her father telling her to trust her instincts propelled her forward until she moved without thought.

Her eyes opened as she smelled old rusty iron, like the swing. Like little red riding hood, she walked into the dangerous woods. She let her mind wander as she often did looking for things. Except this time, she had no certain path other than a need to stop the Skaros. 

The creaky sound became a thudding, a pulse that vibrated through the ground until she pushed past vines and branches and skidded down a slope. Her knee hit a stump, tearing through her jeans until blood damped the fabric. Her kidnappers followed closely, making her move faster. 

Maybe she could lose them in the dark. And it was very dark where she was with trees packed densely together, their canopy armor against the moonlight. Moving without purpose, her ears rang with fear until it felt like the world spun around her and she didn’t know which way was up or down. 

She tripped over something in the ground, hard, cold and unmoving. A rock but hewn as if…. a marker. Landing on her knees wincing at her sore knee, an odd stillness surrounded her. An aged smell, like old books, mold and dust enveloped her.

The Skaros arrived, lanterns illuminating a pool of oily black liquid a few feet before her, minerals in the ground sparkling around it. Rose’s stomach rebelled as they shoved her closer and closer to it. Her skin crawled at the thought of touching the surface. 

“Fear of the unknown is the great destroyer. It keeps us from our own divinity.” Davros lectured until Rose grabbed a handful of gravel hurling back at him cackling at her meager attempt to hurt him. 

A few bis fell into the pool of darkness, ripples vibrated on the surface until a screeching and howling sounded. 

“Black blood of the earth. It consumes the unworthy. The time has come for you to set aside the banality of humanity blinding your senses. The power calls to you, Rose Tyler. Go to it, bring us the key. It’s whispering call is already slipping inside you the way it did your father.” 

Rose felt something, picking at her brain. She didn’t want it. If this was in her Dad’s head, he must have gone mad. The itch turned into a flutter. Soon it was like a drill until she couldn’t breath and curled up into a ball. 

“Let it in.” They all chanted until Rose wanted to do anything to escape.

She rolled into the black pool screaming, coughing, no air, no up or down. Thick choking slimy fluid, sucked her down, hurtling her into the unknown until she thought death was her only escape. Until, she fell into a heap on iridescent lily pads, like a giant floating bed. 

The pain ebbed and she stared up at the blackness she’d fallen through. She sat up, clothes wet, like she’d showered in them, but not cold. Rose reached a tentative finger up and poked it and pulled her finger away from the frigid liquid. 

“It’s a barrier.”

She looked around at the lily pads packed closely together, covering what, she didn’t know. And then she detected movement, a swirl in the water beneath her that grew into a whirlpool, the lily pads moving around it. Drops of blood from her wound trailed into the liquid surface. Light glowed and a song, like a siren she imagined, filled the chamber. Her eyes felt heavy and the sweet music floated around her soothing, almost like home. 

She wanted to sleep. So tempting on this floating, cool bed. But her mum needed her. And she had to stop the Skaros before they came here, invaded this sacred place. Stop them. Her thoughts became a whirlwind of ideas. 

How life was sacred and a privilege. It must be protected the way she protected her mother. Rose fought to stay conscious as images poured into her, seeds buried in the earth, the first green sprouts of life, the pounding of life on the soil, the cries of birth, the world growing, destruction, and rebirth. 

Calmness and purpose filled her with one pure thought. The sun, the moon, the stars and the Earth. Rose would protect them as a wolf protects its pack. 

Bathed in the whitest light she tipped back her head, euphoric and certain before plunging her hand into the water until she held an orb of the purest light. Only she didn’t just hold it, it was part of her and always would be when needed. And now she was needed, like one of her ancestors of old, the true servants of nature, priestesses who were once called to serve and she would serve as they did.

The barrier lowered, in one wooshing wave until she knelt in the middle of what her captors called the black blood of the Earth, which would soon be their blood.

“Bring it to me!” Davros shrieked as his minions tried to cross the blackness toward her. She remained unmoving.

“You are the abomination and have been deemed unworthy for the gifts bestowed upon all of us,” she announced in a voice barely her own, unable to do other than she was, a conduit for an angry deity. “Your thoughts and purpose are tiny. We divide you and reclaim the life you have perverted and misused.” 

Burning pain rushed through her. She was on fire, seared but undamaged. A scream released, like a banshee calling out for the dead. And death came to everything around her. 

The Skaros shrieked, moaned and burned. The old forest sacrificed as well, ending the Skaros until old lifeless trees curled around Rose. The black pool sank into the Earth leaving her on a round stone surface carved with ancient runes no one on Earth would be able to read. Except Rose.

Tears mixed with mud. Rose heaved great heaving breaths barely able to get air in her lungs. Her mind screamed until she found her voice releasing her terror, sorrow and fear. What had she done? 

Little remained other than charred bones of her captors. Her mum. She had to save her no matter what she’d done. Barely able to move, she dragged her aching body up. Sobs overtook her. Whatever had entered her was gone, settling inside of her deep and asleep, leaving no trace other than her traumatized mind. The penance and price of saving the world, an internal voice whispered.

Curling up and dying here would be easy. She could sink bank down into the Earth that bore her. But she couldn’t leave her mum dying a slow death. Focusing on that one thought was the only way she moved. Time had no meaning as she wandered, bouncing tree to tree until lights blinded her and she fell onto her knee. 

It was a Pythia who found her. And in that moment her fate sealed as the woman, Gwen, looked down at her with pity and awe.

“We felt it,” was all she said, helping Rose up as more people filled the woods. Members of the three Guilds. 

“My mum’s got to take off the necklace. Davros said it was stealing her life.” Her voice croaked out the words as people shouted more questions and she collapsed into Gwen. “Please save her please.” She blacked out.

The Doctor caught Rose in his arms, tears streaming down his face and she shook and sobbed.

“I’ve got you. You’re safe.”

“No,” she gasped. “We still have to fight, to stop them.”

The Doctor would deny her nothing. Her pain sank into him until he could do nothing but be in awe of her survival and how he wanted to be a part of her life.

“You’re turn,” she whispered into his neck.

He swallowed hard and pressed his forehead against hers, his insides quivering as he relived the worst of himself, the day he unleashed death on more than the Skaros.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks all for reading and commenting. We're getting closer to the end :)
> 
> And here we have the Doctor's tragic past, the event that shaped his life.
> 
> There's a particularly fun Classic Who reference in this one.
> 
> Next chapter is explicit woo hoo.

Rose barely recovered from her memory before she tumbled into the bowels of a castle and the Doctor, dressed in black leather armor…

The Doctor’s hands stung as he slammed them on his aged wooden workbench. Covered in disassembled radios, a jamming transmitter, blow torch and air raid siren, it was a mess of half-finished inventions. Nothing he cobbled together would make a difference. His family fought and died outside, defending their home, and as the main line of defense of the Village of Karn.

His great grandad’s leather-bound diary lay open, scribbled in a coded calligraphy only a few in the family understood. His great grand faced the Skaros before, a smaller force but no less deadly. A dire warning imprinted on those pages, smudged with a bloody thumbprint. The chilling words revealed a curse, the doom of his family for invoking the name of the unspeakable at the Well of Obsidian Argolis. 

The Doctor’s blood ran cold. Childhood ghost stories suddenly were real. It appeared his great grand had spoken the unthinkable to wield power. Given his great grand died in the battle that saved the family castle, and village a hundred years prior. A sacrifice for his family to survive. Perhaps also a family curse passed down to the Doctor. It’s not like his family hadn’t endured tragedy be it children dying in accidents, fires or his mother in a car accident.

It worked but there were no Nazi’s then. No war to end all wars. Now it seemed the whole world would burn. The Guild hid in their bunkers planning to avoid the hard parts. But the Skaros weren’t so patient. And they would end up the victors and rulers of all creation. The Doctor wouldn’t allow it. Even if it cost his life.

“It may curse me, Grandad, but we’re dead if I don’t try.” He shut the book and laid his palm on the old leather cover imprinted with his family crest. “I’ll pay the price.”

The family crypt had been walled up decades ago by his grandfather. No one spoke of it. Or what lay within the labyrinth of catacombs. With nothing else to lose, the Doctor picked up a sledge hammer. Grunting with sweat running beneath his leather armor, he repeatedly hurled the sledge hammer against a stone walled door leading into the crypt. The dust barely settled when he climbed through, his wand lighting the way. Explosions rocked the stone walls, shaking foundations of the castle driving him to move faster down into the cold depths, water oozing from the walls and cracks in the floor. 

A drip, drip, drip combined with dust, mildew and death but didn’t deter him. The battle raged above him and wouldn’t stop unless he stopped it. His only hesitation came from the pull to stand by his family, fighting alongside them.

Except there was no point. The Skaros had invaded from above with, Nazi paratroopers armed with black magic infused weapons. His family and the village were outgunned and weren’t going to survive.

Might as well as save someone the trouble of putting him in the ground. So, he continued twisting and turning, stumbling down a steep incline. He barely spared a glance at walls lined with his ancestors. 

“Come on, where are you? I’m not afraid to pay a magical bounty. Show yourself,” he muttered after what felt like an hour of delving deeper and deeper into the catacombs until the ground crumbled beneath his feet. 

He fell for what felt like forever, until he plunged into a pool of water, his wand sinking downward lighting the pool with an eerie blue glow until it winked out. He bobbed up gasping for breath, flailing until he found his optimum buoyancy. His leather armor weighed him down, but oddly he didn’t sink as much as he should, as the water saturated his boots and clothing.

Not quite the standard spring. The tepid water felt thick, like the Dead Sea he once visited in his youth. Not so dead as the humans thought. It had been a barrier to another world, creatures that made a home insulated from humans.

Magic protected them and he had a good feel that’s what this was. The Well of Obsidian Argolis. Laden with minerals, he stayed afloat. Magic wells, lakes or seas as gateways usually took some figuring out, a few tricks and maybe a sacrifice or a trade. Which is what his great grandad all but said. Utter the unspeakable name. But was there a trick or calling spell?

He squinted to see through the inky darkness but it was like its name, obsidian and it pressed inward around him until paranoia itched in his head of what lived down there. He never did care for the fairy tale about a mystical being, a bipedal wolf, with a taste for humans and the Doctor’s kind. He wasn’t afraid to call this thing but sometimes it was all in the tone and propriety of the request. Bugger. Not the best at persuading god-like beings, him.

The air chilled and the liquid bubbled around him. He coughed and moved his limbs, sluggish weighted down with the water and his leather. 

“No sense putting it off.” 

He tipped his face up and inhaled, focusing on the world above. Guilt, his responsibility and despair at how the world burned settled in his chest, weighed his muscles until his joints stiffened with the reality his father, brothers and cousins fought and died and he should be with them. Tears burned his eyes. 

“As my great grandfather called you, so does my family, Gallifrey, for whatever entity lingers in this place deep beneath my family home. I entreat you to hear my petition, for the lives of my family who have protected this sacred place and the lives of those who nurture the fields and land.” He swallowed hard and in one booming voice called out “Fenric!” 

He waited and waited, bobbing in the water. Other than the echo of his voice and the crumbling of rock showering around him, no god-like being answered. Fantastic. 

What a fool he was, thinking he could call on the ancient power. Bloody half rate mage he was. He wasn’t even standing by his family in the end. They must hate him. As despair tightened around him, choking him in the darkness, drawing him down into the water to end his misery, a song, a lyrical otherworld melody echoed. 

Like angels or the banshee coming to take him to whatever happened next. Light welled from beneath him, and he stopped sinking. Whispers began, unintelligible, in a language he thought he should recognize but couldn’t translate. 

His ears rang and became a roar until he thought his head would explode. His belly burned and it was like he was lifting upward beyond the castle high into a starlit night. Everything exploded in light and color and he couldn’t’ breath or see and then…nothing but peace. 

The Doctor was floating everywhere and everywhen. Blurs moved around him, laughter, tears, voices, clangs of metal, cracks of gunfire, the pungent scent of fire and burning and all of it wrong. He needed to stop it. 

A wolf howl, snarling and yet lonely shattered the cosmos around him. He reached out to touch one star, one last moment of joy before it felt as if the wolf clawed into his back, ripping away his armor until blood ran hot, dripping down his body to the war beneath him. 

He screamed and thunder cracked and the world burst around him in greens, blues, browns, yellows and pinks. Flowers burst open and the sky filled with birds and butterflies. Peace, life and he cried laughing in joy. 

Everything dimmed until an old voice, familiar but foreign spoke in the old secret dialect of his family.

There can be no life without death, no peace without agony. He who calls upon the well risks his mortal soul. Many have bargained, begged and promised. In the end, a price must be paid be it in this life or the next.

A searing heat burned in his chest until he wondered if he would burn alive. Everything went black and he welcomed it, only to awaken on a cold stone floor in his dungeon workshop, sodden with water pooled around him and the oil lamp dying. 

He lifted one shaking hand, wiggling his fingers. His wand was gone. Water. The well. He bolted up and ran up the stairs uncaring of what he must look like. The castle was empty, and outside…a massacre. 

He stumbled over bodies covering the fields, metal melted into the ground. All dead, some by fighting, but others, as if they laid down for a nap. His father had been shot. His younger brother lay nearby in singed grass, eyes open staring empty as if all life had been drained. The Doctor jumped back in horror and screamed. 

“No, I take it back! Bring them back!”

His stomach emptied as the death spread beyond the Skaro, his family, soldiers to cattle, trees and all life surrounding the castle. He’d run. Into town to report the massacre and into the pub to drown his sorrows, everyone feeling sorry for him. 

A Mage dressed in a military uniform clamped a hand on his shoulder. 

“It wasn’t your fault. Davros’ weapon was unstable.” 

The Mage, Alistair Lethbridge Stewart wouldn’t’ let him take the blame. Even if by the time the Mages swept in, they all whispered about him. Some helped but kept their distance. Others stared, questioning the sole survivor of a death zone that covered miles. The Doctor never healed and never joined their ranks. He ran and never stopped.

Rose opened her eyes, breathing heavy, sweat and heat flushing her. The Doctor collapsed to the side, and beat his fists into the ground. Rose crawled over even as he tried to push her away, hiding his face in the dirt. 

“I’m here. You’re not alone. It’s over, Doctor.”

“It’s never bloody over!” he shouted. “They came back. He came back and he nearly killed you.”

Rose felt Jack brush by, removing the stone as she curled her body around the Doctor. God, she thought it was bad for her. But him, unleashing the power to stoop Davros, had far worse consequences. It tore him to shreds and him having to face the guilt and loneliness, without even the few people she had, left her gutted and crying for him. 

“That time is done. You can’t change it any more than I can my past.” Funny how it was easier for her to say that after her own hell. But in a way it was cleansing and healing, excising that wound this way. He didn’t respond expelling shuddering breaths.

“You’re not facing it alone anymore. We aren’t,” she emphasized until he lifted his head, and pulled her against his chest, squeezing her so tight she couldn’t’ breath.

“You both need to get some rest, eat and get centered. The aftermath of something like this can give you unexpected emotional rushes,” Jack advised. 

“Yeah got that,” Rose said while raking her fingers through his short-cropped hair until his breathing evened out and he loosened his grip on her. 

When the Doctor sat up, sliding his hands down her shoulders and arms until he reached her hands, his eyes were the deepest blue, pupils black with something other than fear, or anger, and it struck deep down in a place Rose kept tightly bound. But oh, how she might want to let it out.

“Not that I wouldn’t enjoy the show, but I think this one might test my immorality if I did.” Jack said, leaning against one of the stone walls with a speculative look in his eyes. He motioned to the door.

“Have fun.” He winked and Rose groaned. Aphrodisiac magic. She should have known. All magic has a price. Especially ancient dream stones. 

“It’s not what you think, sweetheart,” Jack said with an amused lilt in his voice. “Not everyone gets the burning lust. It only happens for two people who are already so wound up from sexual tension, they melt the train tracks at the slightest confrontation. Best get him upstairs.” 

Rose stood, tugging at the Doctor who had remained too quiet. In fact, he didn’t even look at Jack. He clamped onto her hand and practically dragged her up the stairs. She tried to complain but she was too busy staring at his arse. He really knew how to wear jeans, and that slight aged, leather scent of him was driving her barmy.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING SMUT AHOY 
> 
> If you are not a smut reader, you can skip this chapter and still know what's going on.
> 
> I full on admit, I get a little teary eyed on this chapter knowing what's about to happen. My bebes!
> 
> Yes I keep adjusting the chapter number. Still unsure how to divide certain things but I do promise a happy resolution.

Barely able to the focus, the only thought throbbing in the Doctor’s mind was he needed to be alone Rose. His nerves were ragged from the shared memory, from the day he received what Jack called The Blessing. Being contained in Jack’s underground lair, the visceral emotions of sharing not just his tragic past, but Rose’s, left him ready to snap.

Rose’s hand, hot skin on skin contact didn’t calm him. It stoked his own emotions, flooding him with primal needs. She’d seen him, what he’d done and hadn’t turned away. She stayed even after sharing what Rose called the worst day of her life.

He understood why she called it that. The Doctor acknowledged responsibility for the power he called. He’d made a choice and agreed to pay a price even if it had been far more than he bargained for. Rose had no choice. She’d suffered so much guilt and searing power that she’d locked herself away, the way she locked power inside herself. Even, as it constantly bubbled up, seeking an outlet.

He’d run away like the coward he was to avoid the same. But not anymore. They’d crossed a line, the two of them, and now…now together they were beyond running or hiding. This shared pain released an unrelenting drive in him to protect Rose. Both of them served roles they never asked for, forced to be a vessel for this bioenergy, lifeforce, blessing or whatever anyone called it. 

Despite a heavy dose of seething resentment at what he’d done, how he’d been blessed, he’d never regret meeting Rose. She was right. He wasn’t alone in this and neither was she. Never did he imagine meeting anyone like her, fierce, smart and she had a wicked sense of humor not to mention that tongue tipped smile that drove him mad.

The Doctor ignored her repeatedly saying his name too lost to one purpose. Get to the bedroom. Shut the door and press her against the nearest wall until every bit of him touched her. 

His blood raced with the need to share all of him with her, not just the past but who he was right then. In relieving that memory with Rose, he’d come to grips with what he’d done. He’d spent his life in that past, running from the memories, trying to make things right, help people, stay away from power, or anything that triggered what lay in him. He’d thought he’d failed after losing Donna. Until he met Rose and found hope.

Ironic, showing up at her cottage in Powell had been a last-ditch effort, and not one he expected to turn out this way, with Rose at his side. 

“Doctor, you don’t bloody need to drag me.” She yanked him to a stop. 

He paused only long enough to cup her cheek.

“As much as I like a strong bloke, one in touch with his magical parts, and one I’d like to really--”  
He yanked her against him, finding her lips as soft and inviting as he imagined. Body on body, her curves pressed against him, made him all the hungrier for her. He didn't need magic or words. And by how she grasped and tugged at his coat and that slight nudge of her knee against his inner thigh, neither did she. A few satisfying swipes of his tongue against hers he broke away. 

Both of them out of breath, he once again, grabbed her hand and battered past the bedroom door until it slammed shut behind them. 

“Doctor, let’s take a breath, yeah.” 

“Taken lots of breaths,” he stepped toward her, taking in her flushed face and dilated eyes. “So, have you. Think we need a bit more than breathing.

“We just shared something personal. And I showed you things no one, not even Jack knows and I think you did the same.” She didn’t back away at his approach even though he gave her ample time to escape. Her taste settled across his tongue as fine as the whiskey they’d both downed earlier. Whiskey barely scratched the surface to the intoxicating woman before him who seemed intent on talking rather than enjoying the nice bed a few feet away.

“I need you to understand, sharing so much, it made me feel close to you.” They stood a hair's breath apart, heat saturating the room around them.

“Rose,” he admitted in a growl rumbling in his chest like thunder, now merging his aura, that sizzle of his magic that surrounded them, against hers. “I don’t normally do this. Get close to people. Donna, she was an accident, not what I do. I Travel, help and duck out. That’s who I am.” 

“Liar,” she challenged, licking her lips, warm brown eyes doing things to him he hadn’t felt in years, if ever. 

“You miss people, having that connection and that’s why you took on Donna and one of the reasons your so determined we find her. And it’s why you’re here with me, right now, about to let loose some of that bound up control.”

Rose stepped closer, her heat and her honey and lemon scent covering him like he was about to cover her.

“You were in my head and it felt like silk sheets on a hot night. And I’d really like to stop the talking and start the fucking now, if you don’t mind,” Rose announced in a deep passion filled voice. 

For once, he agreed. Talking ended as he banded his arms around her body, lips connecting in a deep snog. Rose, moaned finger nails raking down the nape of his neck and walked him backwards, until his legs hit the bed. 

That thud, proved this was no dream and his reality centered on the woman in his arms. Each tug at his lip as she dragged her nails down the back of his jumper left him throbbing low in his body stretching his jeans tight. Everything he’d felt, each moment of discovery, sparring and revelation they’d made, distilled into this one moment. 

Life and power burned through him for her. Fuck the past and the guilds and all of it. This was for him and them. He shrugged his coat off and the two of them tugged and tossed his jumper and her jacket and shirt. 

The bed bounced as he fell backwards, Rose licking and nipping at his chest until he was sure, they’d burn down Jack’s castle. The two of them probably could after what they’d shared. He unhooked her bra, whipping it across the room. Rose straddled him and tossed her hair back arching a brow at him.

“The old mage has some moves.” 

“I’ll show you moves,” he rolled her off and worked on his boots and jeans. She laughed and did the same until he had his own personal goddess kneeling on the bed, hair loose, naked, free and unafraid. She looked him square in the eye until her attention drifted to other more pressing matters.

Rose enjoyed how this was playing out. Him, naked lounging before her, eyes burning a trail from her breasts down to parts already wet and wanting. She was a bit of a control freak for sex. She liked being on top. Which she proved shoving him down. And she had an inkling he liked it that way. 

And that meant he wasn’t so much the traditional mage. Which Rose said a quick thanks to the Blessing and whatever power settled in the Earth. The Doctor was definitely quickly breaking all the old rumors that mages were either cold and dutiful partners, or they tended toward the sadistic side of things. 

Not the Doctor. He was masculine without being all bulging muscles and Adonis syndrome. Rose enjoyed a man who had strength from work, the old-fashioned way, and not by magic, glamor, or in a human gym. Like how he’d been in her garden, damp, smelling of the Earth and displaying true strength.

It was like they were meant to be, they fit. Her curves proving, she enjoyed life, kept her body fit by working the earth and enjoyed the bounties it provided. He was hard lines, battle scarred and solid with an arse a woman get a grip on.

And Rose Tyler was not bashful when it came to showing him, how beautiful and attractive she found him. Raking her nails across his taut abdomen until he shuddered, she again took control, topping him until she fit her body over his. 

A delightful prickle of scruff grazed her cheek when she nipped just below his ear. Fuck but he had gorgeous hands, one of which was presently between her thighs. His other hand danced fingers up her spine until she was immersed in the feel of his flesh against hers. 

Wetness and heat flushed in her sex. Everything in her thrummed with need, to feel him inside of her, to be alive and moving with him in a primal way. Rational thought fogged as she sat up and curled her hands around his cock, thick and tapered. He was so warm and filled with a need as heady as hers. He cried out, arching against the bed, shifting until he angled his body against the stack of pillows.

Rose shivered, her body craving sex as she pressed her wet warmth against the base of his shaft. They seemed so in sync. Eyes meeting, he clamped a hand on her waist. His other hand sat between her thighs, tortuously teasing, and encircling her clit until he slipped a finger deep inside until she thought the stone walls of this castle would crumble.

Life, it pulsed in her meeting the same heat in him. 

“Rose, tell me it’s me you want to feel, and not that the mind stone or the power.” 

One plaintive demand that cut through lust to her heart. The personal connection she yearned for but had feared. And yet in his face, warm and inviting blue eyes, she saw caring, honesty and the same desire she felt. 

“I see us, and this moment just for us, no matter what we have to face. Give us this one moment, Doctor. Please,” 

“Rose Tyler, I’m Not sure what will be left tomorrow, but whatever there is, I….” His throat worked. “Please let me give it to you, for your safe keeping.” 

Every doubt she had about him crumbled. Mage or not, he now owned a piece of her heart. In one quick move she sank onto him, filling herself with more than flesh. Nothing else mattered. 

Her hips rocked in a rhythm they made between them. His gasps matched her own, calling her name mixed with an ancient lyrical language that thrummed in her body. She bit on her lip at the glide of him inside of her, that fluttering feeling chasing the ever-present need. She leaned forward, swiveling her hips, fingers digging into his shoulders. 

His eyes opened and peered into her soul and power tingled between them, building in her spine, ebbing and flowing until it built up coiling her in her belly. She rode him as he gripped her hips with bruising intensity. There was no bedroom or castle. 

They were just them, two beings chasing a sweet release as sweat slicked their bodies. “More and yes” slipped from her lips. 

She changed the angle of their merged flesh until her ears rang with pleasure. One grinding thrust and white light surrounded her as she screamed his name. Fluttering muscles tightening between them. Pulsing heat flowed in waves. 

No words but grunts and joyous hums were exchanged. One perfect moment shared. She crashed down onto his chest, breathing heavy, her heart racing. Languid, sticky and sated, she listened to the drumming of his heart. 

“Fantastic.” He groaned and she giggled, tipping her face up. Meeting the same dopey, happy grin on his face as she was sure was on hers. 

“We are,” she agreed. “Might be again after a kip.” 

He hummed in agreement and shifted until she felt a blanket wrapped around them. 

“Stay with me.” 

Words she’d longed to hear. A rightness settled across her shoulders. Yes, she wanted a future with him, no matter how long that ended up being. She hoped it would be more than a day. But if not, this was the best day of her life and she’d treasure it.

And if tomorrow was the last, then she had this. 

“Sleep,” he murmured, fingers combing through her hair. Her eyes heavy from exhaustion and shared memories eventually closed. She had pleasant dreams, of him, her, a garden and life blossoming around them. Wouldn’t that be brilliant.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for everyone reading! Only two more chapters after this one :)

Light filtering through the windows ebbed. The Doctor spent the quiet time lying next to Rose, thinking not just about Donna and what they would face, but about himself. 

He’d judged himself akin to death. The bringer of doom who must pay for his sins, the murderer of family and foe. Seeing Rose’s memories, what she did so parallel to him, made him rethink. She saw herself the same. But he didn’t, couldn’t see her as anything but his opposite counterpart. 

They wielded a similar power of life which created and destroyed. Or maybe it created from destruction, a split in the road, an alternate from that which existed in his world. And now they would face another alteration. Someone who shouldn’t be alive yet was, who had cheated death and the life they both poured through him. Whoa. He bolted up. 

“No, it can’t be.” 

Rose stirred and squinted. “What?” 

“We did this. Davros is here because we poured the power into him and we have to fix it together.” 

That woke up his sleepy no longer post sex woozy Rose.

“What you mean poured power into him?” 

“I did it first but he didn’t end,” the Doctor confided. “He somehow manipulated it to live, and then when you hit him...” 

“Fuck” Rose sat up blanket slipping down as she ran a hand through her hair. Her breasts and the healthy glow of her skin did more than arouse him. It made him want to fight. Until the creaked and an unwelcome visitor cleared his throat.

“As delightful as this is, and I promise you, everyone in my humble abode appreciated the sex tsunami you two unleashed. Me and Ianto especially because it’s been a good century or more since I got off like that. I mean Rose and I—” 

“I don’t need to hear more,” the Doctor grimaced at the thought of sharing anything he and Rose did with anyone else. 

“Well,” Rose puffed out her cheeks and exhaled. “I can’t deny that the Doctor gave me the big one. Sorry Jack.” 

Suddenly. the Doctor felt less self-conscious and pissy about sex energy overflowing to the masses. 

“Told you. Impressive in so many ways.” 

Rose giggled and nuzzled into his shoulder, one arm naturally wrapping her. 

“Not complaining,” Jack agreed. “But we do need to get down to business and now that you have resolved that egregiously unhealthy sexual tension we can.” 

“Jack,” both of them said in unison. A sign they were very much in tune with each other.

“I take it, you both hit Davros, or channeled as the case may be, the same bioenergy that’s’ infused and bubbling away in you.” 

“That’s about it,” Rose admitted. 

“What if this Blessing empowered Rose and I because we touched the source?” The Doctor began working through the problem. “But with Davros, it was coming through us, filtered by our emotions, and when he tried to absorb and channel it, it corrupted and mucked about with his personal life force.” 

“He looked like a zombie the last time I saw him.” Rose admitted, her fingers bunching around the blanket.

“That would have been seventy-two years after what I did,” the Doctor admitted. Rose stilled beside him before sitting up and moving to his side. He’d not been sure how she’d feel about his age even after sharing memories. Then again, she didn’t seem to have a problem with Jack who was over a thousand years his senior or more by his own admission.

“It makes sense.” Jack paced to a window and peered out at the dusk, looking over his city. “And now he’s trying again with Donna.”

“I think he’s using Donna to get to us,” Rose admitted. “He finds out she’s reading the super-secret Mage tablet. Plans for her to unlock power but she can’t because Wilf’s got her focus key locked up tight. But it doesn’t’ matter, because he knows she’s the Doctor’s apprentice and saw him come to me,” Rose bit her bottom lip and shook her head. “It’s a trap, but I still don’ get what he thinks I can do?” 

“It’s not just you. It’s us.” The Doctor tossed off the blanket and gathered up his clothing not missing how the Captain eyed his arse. “Together we’d have more control. Neither of us is affiliated with a guild and both of us have had time to figure this power t out. He knows I won’t allow anything to happen to Donna.” 

“And he knows I won’t let another person suffer,” Rose accepted clothing tossed at her 

“You’ve both made no secret about your guilt,” Jack added softly, scooping up Rose’s bra eyeing the Doctor with a smirk before handing it to her, along with a towel to clean up sex aftermath. “Rose, you may have given Davros a boost, but you’re not to blame. He’s been building toward this power play for a long time. It’s been four years since you defeated him and he’s been preparing, maybe the most prepared he’s ever been.” 

“Most prepared?” the Doctor asked, suspicious of Jack’s carefully chosen wording. “Is there anything else you know that you’re not telling us?” the Doctor pulled his jeans and jumper, a niggling suspicion that The Immortal who lived to see the Roman Empire fall probably had a bit more knowledge. 

“What if I told you I believe in reincarnation?” Jack asked.

“I’d tell you you’re full of shite. Been around decades and I’ve never met a dead relative or friend.” the Doctor picked up Rose’s shoes and brought them to her as she finished tidying up and tugged on jeans.

“Your seventy-two years is a drop in the bucket to me,” Jack pointed out. “What if we’re all part of this life energy flowing around us and through the planet.?”

“You’re talking about Universal Consciousness theory. That the universe breaks off bits of itself to learn and then that energy goes back only to be replanted to learn more.” Rose paused, pulling on socks at the Doctor’s comment.

“Something like that.” Jack acknowledged.

“Who’ve you met that’s reincarnated?” The Doctor wasn’t going to give him any credit without proof.

“Ianto,” Jack answered simply without any teasing or innuendo. 

Rose, dressed in jeans and shirt went over and wrapped her arms around Jack. The jealousy from earlier didn’t rise. Instead, he looked anew at Jack, again thinking how much he’d misjudged The Immortal. 

“How are you sure of this? Any number of people could be born and live on Earth looking like another person be it spatial genetic multiplicity or common ancestry.” 

“It’s not just looks. Yan dreams of things or said things to me there was no way he could know, things from a past shared with another version of him,” Jack explained, Rose still standing by his side, supportive as she’d been to the Doctor.

“Telepathy or he researched and is playing you.” The Doctor suggested. 

“No,” Rose stated, eyes on Jack, one hand gripping his. “Ianto’s not like that. I’m pretty good at sussing out liars and he’s not one. At least not about that.” 

“No one knew what he said to me,” Jack responded, pulling Rose’s hand up to brush a kiss on her knuckles before heading to the bottle of Whiskey to pour himself a shot. “It was private and no he’s not a telepath and we’ve never shared what you two did. He couldn’t survive it.” 

“Destined to find the love of your life over and over just as you love him over and over again,” Rose said softly. “The world can be a hard place.”

“I keep hoping each time will be the last.” Jack’s voice softened as he downed his whiskey.

Rose wrapped her arms around his waist, cuddling into his back and the Doctor couldn’t blame her for offering comfort. It terrified him he might lose Rose and wait a century to find her only to lose her again. And he wasn’t going to let it happen. One thing he’d make sure of was Rose Tyler lived.

“Davros has lived before. A long time ago.” Jack revealed, turning and cupping Rose’s face. “Always as evil and power mad and after the same thing. He sacrificed a thousand lives looking for immortality and the power to remake the world.” 

“That’s what he told me he wanted.” Rose turned away and sat on the bed, reaching for her trainers. Like two halves of a whole the Doctor was drawn to sit by her, bumping knees. 

“We won’t let that happen.” He insisted and meant it with every fiber of his being. 

“He’ll sacrifice Donna.” Rose’s voice sank low and distraught.

“Not if we stop him permanently,” Jack walked over and nudged a trunk open with his boot. “You need to focus on what’s already claimed you as vessels.” 

“I don’t even want to be a vessel,” Rose violently laced her trainer. 

“None of us do,” the Doctor admitted. “But Jack’s right. We have use what we’ve been given to stop him or others will die.” 

“The Blessing isn’t an accident,” Jack reminded. “As it chose you, you can call it. It’s up to the two of you how. I can’t go with you. This is something only the two of you can do together. Especially given where Davros is.” 

“A castle in the North,” Rose said and stilled. The Doctor’s blood turned to ice. 

“Gallifrey.” His voice strained and the memory he shared with Rose hit him like a lorry. Rose gripped him as if he’d fall into that well again. “He went back to where I started it.” 

Rose wrapped herself around him but he could barely feel her warmth. His mouth tasted like stale bread and the world turned muted. 

“You won’t be alone this time. And no one knows that castle like you,” Rose assured him even as her face paled and she reached in her pocket for her amulet. 

“I have some things that might help. So does Rose.” Jack rummaged through the trunk.

“My amulet.” Rose pulled it from her coat pocket. It jarred the Doctor from dark memories and thoughts of revenge. 

“I’ve seen you with it before. Those markings are old.” 

“Older than you know,” Jack affirmed. “And it’s made of a metal found in an asteroid that crashed into Egypt millennia ago. I gave it to Rose to help her learn to control the power permeating her at the cellular level. It’s kind of like training wheels but it can be used for more.”

“I don’t want to be a weapon.” The shake in Rose’s voice chipped away at the Doctor. 

“I’m not keen on some old world possibly enchanted magic symbol being thrown into the mix.” The Doctor wrapped his hand around hers holding the amulet and jolt shot up his arm.

“Neither am I,” Jack admitted. “I can’t even say what it will do other than I think it will help you to not lose yourself to pain, anger, revenge or despair that you both fall victim to.”

He pulled out another amulet, this one shaped like an infinity symbol. “Put this around your neck. The Doctor caught the leather strap midair, looking at the pewter amulet etched with the same circular markings on Rose’s amulet. 

“These markings. Their elementals. 

“Won’t stop a spell or a bullet or a knife, but it will help you to not get overwhelmed or lost. Like the one Rose’s holding helps her.

Another slight jolt of jealousy roared to the surface and he looked at Rose, holding the gift like her life depended on it. 

“Jack gave it to me two years ago not long after we met. I was on the edge and he helped.”

“She needed it like you do, although she was much worse off than you,” Jack confided and guilt assailed the Doctor for any hint of possessiveness.

“That’s not a suggestion for you two to compete on who gets the most crazed by guilt and power. Which we don’t have time for. We need to get you two suited up and on your way. Your friend won’t have much time once it hits midnight” Jack’s voice turned more militant.

“We still have to talk about Donna and the focus key they wanted,” the Doctor said to fill the void of talking so he wasn’t overwhelmed by that niggling bit of doom hanging over all of them. “I’m worried about Wilf, Donna’s grandfather. If they get that before we make it--” 

“I’m the key,” Rose interrupted, zipping up her coat. 

“Rose, we don’t know that. And you couldn’t read the symbols on the tablet,” the Doctor quickly said, trying to offer her absolution and comfort. 

“Donna studied that tablet, the symbols are in her head, in her. I’ve seen them before because I channeled that energy. What if putting me and Donna together with you in that castle unlocks the power that overwhelmed you, Doctor. Donna and I fit together to control it while you open up the family power source.” Rose began to pace, ideas and hypotheses rolling out of her in a terrifying way.

“Davros threatens to kill us to get you to do it.” She finished.

The Doctor swallowed hard at how on point she was. He didn’t want to admit it and walked to the window, the lights of the city glittering like the life it held. K-9 sat charging nearby.

“I’m not asking you to choose,” Rose came up behind him, wrapping her arm through his. 

“Davros is definitely there,” Jack said, staring at the soft glow of his mobile. “The Guilds are going crazy on social media, a few reports from the Pythia about that castle, and their headquarters are under attack.” 

“What do you mean?” Rose demanded as she and the Doctor whipped around. 

“The Rassilon Archive blew up.” 

The Doctor stumbled into Rose who curled into his side. “The Pythia temple at Abydos and the Arcadian labs too.” 

“War,” the Doctor said even though he didn’t want to admit it. “They’re forcing our hand.”

“That’s what the Skaros did a millennia ago,” Jack said. “There’s been some incursions here as well. I’ve got security shoring up our borders. The world will plunge into chaos if we don’t solve this. I’ve got my hands full with Mages blaming the Arcadians and vice versa. The Pythia have gone to ground. I still have contacts in the Guilds to work through this. But you’re our only hope with the Skaros. 

“They want this chaos,” Rose said, fingers biting into his arm. “And they want to force us to that castle. Tonight, by midnight.” 

“It’s the anniversary of what they did to you.” The Doctor’s stomach dropped and anger reignited. 

“It’s not random,” Jack added. “It’s Argolis. An old holiday from the ancient world.” 

“Get the Guilds off point, use it to strong arm me and Rose.” The Doctor felt events unfurling and it drove him, toughened him to what he needed to do. 

“I can’t let you stay here. I’ve got people to protect. You’ll have my support but you’ve got to go,” Jack announced.

Before the Doctor could give a snide comment, Rose took charge. 

“Can you transmat us to the castle?” 

“Already prepping,” Jack acknowledged. “And I’ve got a few things from our Arcadian friends to help.” He unrolled a messenger bag with various vials. “Mist, Howling, Stone, Fire and my favorite, peace.” 

“You have to get close to use some of that.” The Doctor noted.

“I might be able to amplify some of them if I’m in the right place.” Rose added and shoved a few vials in her jacket pocket. “And I’ve got a white point star crystal.” She dangled it on a silver chain before clasping it around her neck. “My garden grows a lot more than plants.” 

The Doctor couldn’t help the cold tingle creeping through him like death’s hand. This would be painful and maybe by nights end he’d find the everlasting death. No matter, they’d face it all and do it all together, him and Rose. For the first time, he hoped it wasn’t death. He wanted life. With Rose Tyler. 

“I’d like to see more of this garden someday. At least more than Maddy,” He bumped his shoulder against hers. 

“Hey, I like that Mandragora. He thinks I’m cute,” Jack chimed. 

Of course he would, the Doctor thought before kneeling down and rapping his knuckles on K-9.

“Master,” his dog responded.

“I can’t take you with us, K-9. I want you to stay here and monitor events.” The Doctor paused and a stillness settled across him. “If I don’ return, I want you to go home with Rose.”

“Affirmative, Master.”

“Doctor, I’m not having this,” Rose’s complaint was expected. He smiled and patted his dog. If anything happened to him, Rose would take care of K-9 and he'd guard her. Maybe that was his legacy.

He stood and the two of them exchanged a silent understanding, an emotional bond forged between them.

“Let’s get this over with.” Rose pulled away even though he sensed she had a lot more to say to him. But not before a battle. 

She instead dug through her pack. The Doctor hated that sensation of separation as she pulled away like she hid herself in that cottage in Powell. He was already so addicted to her, he wanted to sweep her back into his arms and promise her forever in Powell nourishing the garden with her. Probably not the best thing when he was about to face evil incarnate. 

Rose put the bag on her shoulder and their eyes met. Fear, anger, and everything washed away in one stretched moment. They moved toward each other until they met in a soft kiss.

“Together,” She murmured.

“Always.” He responded before turning to Jack who smiled softly at them. “If we live, get us out of there.” 

“Post apocalypse drinks are on me.” Jack said before wrapping both of them in a hug the Doctor didn’t mind. He may not agree with The Immortal but he felt a deep kinship to him now. Through battle, fire and love.


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the evil cliffie! My eyes are about wasted so hopefully this was edited well enough. 
> 
> Thanks again for following along on this story. One more chapter!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the evil cliffie! My eyes are about wasted so hopefully this was edited well enough. 
> 
> Thanks again for following along on this story. One more chapter!

The Transmat landed them in a dark meadow a mile from the castle. Rose dropped to the ground and the Doctor did the same. She clasped his hand and focused on the cool, damp grass, earth, rock, and beneath them, a river of life. 

“Feel that?” she asked. 

“I feel it.” His voice lacked the earlier warmth.

Rose wished he didn’t pull away, harden himself like he did the moment they arrived. But she didn’t blame him. This land was laden with the blood of his kin. 

“Are you all right?” she asked. 

“Let’s get this over with.” His response was hard and clipped. Rose didn’t push him in that regard, but they had a castle to siege.

“So, you want to walk up and ring the bell or what?” 

“They already know we’re here. Can’t you hear the chanting,” he asked, eyes lasered on the medieval gray stoned castle, the glow of soft yellow light filtering from the lower windows and open gate.

Rose lifted her head and a chill sank deep into her bones. Yes, she heard it now. Nausea welled in recognition.

“We’ve got to move before they throw Donna into that pit of power,” Rose said, tense and ready to jump at anything that moved. Until she caught him looking at her, tension erased and eyes sparkling. 

“Pit of power?” he repeated.

“Oh, you know.” And then she giggled. If they were gonna die, at least she could make jokes.

But the light moment fled. They’d delayed long enough. They climbed up and over a hill across land dotted with heather and crumbling stone fences until the Doctor stopped.

The outline of a cemetery sat on their left. 

“It’s been a while,” he said tonelessly.

“You left and never came back?” Rose squeezed his hand. He nodded, the weight of memories pressing downward as he kicked at rock with his boot. 

“I’m sorry. You’re not alone,” Rose reiterated 

“No, I’ve got the bloody Skaros welcoming me home.” 

“And, you have me helping you evict them. And their getting impatient.” She eyed several of the familiar black robed figures coming toward them holding old fashioned fiery torches. “Very retro and why do they always look the same? No fashion sense.” 

The doctor snorted and they moved forward. 

“The big pointy spears are new,” Rose casually noted. “Guess they’re a little afraid of us,”

Rose nudged the Doctor in the side as he grew quiet with a palpable anger buzzing around him. Not good. Maybe she’d test some of these potions. With a flick of her wrist, and aim gained from her youth picking off bullies, she hurled a vile at the Skaros. Suddenly, Gallifrey had a new set of gargoyles, of the Skaro variety. 

“Was that necessary?” The Doctor asked, eyeing crusty stone cult followers.

“Yeah, sends a message. Now we walk in on our terms.” 

Rose grinned and the Doctor couldn’t’ help but join her. If he had to be facing Skaros with anyone, he’d choose Rose. Brave and determined, she marched past the new lawn ornaments. She’d managed to turn that tight heaviness weighing him down into a need to stand by her and with her. To face this together, which was contrary to his normal approach of sweep in alone, stop evil and flee. 

As they approached the centuries old keep, he felt like the lord of the castle in a way he never thought he would. With Rose as his lady. Daft, he was. Facing the end of the world and he was playing mental house with Rose. She needed a partner ready to kick arse, not daydreaming about a spending an evening cuddling and marathoning Netflix. He channeled everything into being the partner she needed.

He walked into the castle, head high, shoulders back, a proper lord to Rose’s mind. The courtyard showed natural wear and tear. Stones blackened and crumbling and weeds growing here and there. Inside, the still murky interior of the castle was a little better. Their footsteps echoed on the stone floor as gas lights cast shadows in the mostly empty interior. Even the ragged tapestries on the wall and a few sparse pieces of old wood furniture that had seen better days looked sinister. 

She wasn’t given much time to ponder as they were quickly surrounded and shoved into a staircase heading down into the dungeons. The Doctor appeared to be locked into Gallifreyan warrior mode, too quiet, and oozing a leashed violence. Rose hoped she could pull him out of it when she needed him. 

Chill creeped past her coat. Echoes of the chants reverberated, vibrating through her until her teeth ached. It took every bit of will, and anti-anxiety magic she knew, to focus on stepping down the twisting, narrow stone steps. 

The one light moment was another voice drowning out the chanting.

“Listen here, you skinny sack of bones, I’ll have the mage guild rip you to pieces. My family’s important, and they won’t like how you’ve treated me. And I’m not going into that filthy—”

They stepped into the crowded underground room, gaze zeroed on Donna, covered in dust and grime. They had forced her to kneel on the ground, a spear digging into her back. 

“Doctor,” she gasped. 

But Rose and the Doctor were too busy staring at the living corpse of Davros sitting in a wheelchair. Rose almost vomited. He was still barely more than a skeleton, with paper thin skin stuck with electrodes and some sort of device beeping in time to his heart. 

“Welcome to my ultimate victory, Doctor and Miss Tyler.” 

“Nice of you to make yourself at home,” the Doctor said, voice deep but sharp. Rose gave in to one moment of frozen terror before Donna captured her attention. 

“Don’t listen to him!” Donna struggled against being held down. “No matter what he wants. He’s not getting it.” Definitely, fiery as the Doctor described. 

Donna looked ragged, pale with her plum top and gray pants torn and red hair a tangled mess. Rose understood what she was going through. Four years ago, she was in Donna’s place. Now, she had a chance to stop the Skaros before they destroyed another life. She needed to bide her time, wait for the right moment. Donna would live. No matter what.

“It is time,” Davros rasped in a wheezing voice. “Open the well or Miss Noble dies.” 

“No, she won’t. You need her.” Rose faced her fear and spoke to him. 

“Just like you need us. You can’t open it without us.” A cocky assuredness laced the Doctor’s words even as a muscle ticked in is jaw.

“Doctor, we can’t,” Donna spoke, her voice shaking. “We need to wait for the Guild.” 

“He’s taken out the Guild.” The Doctor barely looked at Donna, too busy glaring at Davros and Rose worried he was about to unleash that storm of his, too soon. 

“What do you mean?” Donna seemed ready to collapse. Rose couldn’t allow that, and not when Davros chortled in glee. 

“Pathetic and all too easy. The Guilds are corrupt of purpose, weak and tainted by the humans they avoid. Impudent and lost to their heritage, they make way for we who know the true power, and will unleash it cleansing the Earth of the weak and pathetic.”

“And making yourself king or is it emperor?” the Doctor asked. 

“So full of fire, is he not Miss Tyler?” Davros observed.

“It doesn’t matter, king or emperor.” Rose ignored Davros, addressing the Doctor. “He’s evil and if we don’t’ give him what he wants, we have to listen to him ramble on about how he’s gonna kill everyone. So can we please cut to the end of the world?”

“Time has given you confidence and mastery over your fear, Miss Tyler. We misjudged you before. We won’t do so again. Proceed to the extraction room.” 

“That sounds ominous,” Rose mused.

“You have no idea,” the Doctor agreed.

“Are you two bonkers?” Donna exclaimed, as Skaros yanked her up. “We’ve got to stop him not pave the way for the apocalypse.” She turned and glared at one of her captors. “Oi, watch it with that spear!”

“Humoring the villain is all we have right now, Donna. Otherwise, we’re as bad as the gloating skeletor over there.” The Doctor grinned and it helped Rose keep positive. 

“Are you sure this is a rescue, cause this is a shit effort,” Donna complained as they were shoved toward a jagged opening in the wall. 

“Are you rating my rescuing skills?” the Doctor asked and Rose wanted to laugh at how they bantered.

“Clearly you skipped the class on how to stop the megalomaniac. I’d have been better off with the Archival janitor, Mr. Copper. He might be a bit slow, but at least he knew how to clean up a mess.”

“That’s a bit harsh,” Rose acknowledged even as she enjoyed Donna’s inner critique. Donna needed to fight even if they had to be annoying to get her worked up.

“Harsh is doing his paperwork and making sure his Form 42 is up to date when he won’t blooming sign it. Or babysitting his snarky dog.”

“I thumb my nose at bureaucracy,” the Doctor did just that and Rose could see they were like two siblings. “And K-9 is a good dog.”

“The hour draws near, proceed to the pit!” Davros said with relish.

“See,” Rose nudged him. “Told you, pit of power.” The Doctor rolled his eyes while Donna groaned, we’re all doomed.

“Might be a bit doomed,” the Doctor acknowledged. “Heading down into the crypt doesn’t get much more ominous.” 

The Doctor seemed almost gleeful as Donna was shoved next to them as they ducked into a gaping hole in the wall. The three climbed over rubble left behind from the last time the Doctor entered the crypt. 

Lit only by the burning torches, the smoke burned Rose’s eyes as she followed behind Davros, his followers carrying him to the point his chair could roll down the uneven, rubble lined floor. 

“He’s going to unmake all of us and rain terror on the Earth.” Donna reminded them, tripping over a rock until the Doctor caught her arm. She slapped his hand away. “You’re the big scary outcast mage, the oncoming storm. Shouldn’t you be whipping up fireball or using that wand of yours to knock them out?”

“We’re in an underground crypt. Not the best place. And you’ve gotten a lot more violent since I took you on.”

“Maybe it was all the paperwork,” Rose commented, trying to keep things light in the dank, atmosphere of crypts and death surrounding them. “And the Doctor’s right. Nothing we ca do now other than follow along.”

“Yeah, let’s just stroll toward the end of the world. And who are you by the way?” Donna demanded.

“End of the world is pretty much Davros’ eternal plan,” Rose admitted. “Sorry, I’m Rose Tyler And whether it looks like it or not, we’re here to rescue you.” 

Donna glanced up at the Doctor. 

“You brought a date to the apocalypse?” 

“Seemed like the thing to do. Did you miss the rescue part?”

“Marching into a crypt filled with rotting corpses about to unleash hell on Earth is not a rescue.”

“These are my ancestors, you know. Have a bit more respect.”

“It’s his castle,” Rose added.

“You have a castle and you didn’t tell me?” Donna demanded.

Lucky for the Doctor, their robed guards kept Donna moving and behind them. She looked ready to punch him. 

“There’s nothing but death here. Not exactly a topic you discuss over tea.” His voice turned hard again.

Rose kept close, bumping her hip against his to affirm contact while leaving her hands free to grab her amulet at the right time.

The Doctor put on a good show for Donna and Rose. He understood what Rose was doing. He used a good ramble often to diffuse a situation or talk his way out of something. There was no escape this time. No swanning off in the midst of a distraction. 

Rose and Donna needed him on point. So did the rest of the world. The Guilds could burn, but he wouldn’t lose Rose and Donna. Not this time. He was a different man now. 

Downward they walked, the air cooling, condensation oozing from the rock walls. They passed tomb after tomb, all of them, even the Skaros quieting. Flames from the primitive torches danced and flickered casting shadows. 

They didn’t even question the eerie quiet and the dense air. The moment Rose sensed it, her breath hitched. Donna stumbled a pace. Good, they felt that slight jolt. They were close now. But Davros was no fool. 

All too soon they reached the collapse of stone, a dark gaping maw he’d once plummeted through. Davros sat to the side and the three of them were thrust toward the rim of the hole. 

“Power, it defines who we are. It has preserved me for something greater,” his breathing rasped. “The eternal calling to reclaim the Earth, what it once was, flourishing with unleashed energy.” 

“The Earth is just fine as is.” Rose muttered. 

“No, Miss Tyler. Before there were guilds, those born of power, the rightful heirs of this world enjoyed the bounty of the deep welling, the bioenergy you call it.” He rasped and clutched his chest. 

Davros wasn’t long for this world. Maybe they had a chance. 

“I will be restored and in return, I will unleash what was buried, cast down into the Earth and bound where it was not meant. It is my destiny and I shall be the true messiah, raising up the devoted, and sending the humans back to serving us, and the world as we see it.”

“He’s bonkers,” Donna whispered and the Doctor agreed.

“No Miss Noble. I’m a visionary. Those with little connection to the pulse that brings life cannot fathom the true magnificence and glory this world has been denied.” 

“Can we get on with this,” Rose whinged, very convincing considering her hands were shaking. 

“As you wish. We call on our ancestors, the pure and destined who absorbed the great welling to nourish the Earth.” His followers chanted and Rose’s eyes teared. The Doctor wasn’t far behind as pressure built against his ears. 

He had to stop this soon. 

“We respect the Earth, the great constant of life and matter. We do not take without giving. We ask to fill us, your vessels the pure and devout servants of true life. We will take back what was mistakenly left in these puny unworthy vessels. May the black blood of the Earth consume them and give us new life!” 

Before the Doctor could do anything, a bound Donna was shoved into the hole screaming until a splashing sound. “No!” he shouted lunging forward but was held back.

“She is the key” Davros recited. “In her mind is the incantation. Now then, Doctor. You and Miss Tyler will complete the summoning.” 

The chanting changed and the cavern filled with thick, choking incense, earthy but with a hint of sickly sweet. Rose slumped into one of the servants of Davros and when she opened her eyes, they glinted gold.

Old words, a dialect that sound lyrical and familiar escaped her lips. 

“Rose, you’ve got to stop this,” The Doctor pleaded but was held back. They wouldn’t allow him to touch her and instead chanted louder.

Rose stood unnatural still and kept whispering words that shook the earth. Davros cackled in response. 

“The seed we planted bears fruit. Now Doctor, complete the circle, finish the spell.” 

“You complete it.” The Doctor was in no mood to give Davros anything. 

“Then your apprentice dies as will Miss Tyler and all the Guilds. Her life is tied to the eternal river, the binding force to his planet and it will consume her.” 

Rose began to spasm and convulse. She didn’t stop speaking. She would burn. But not on his watch. 

“Then we’ll all die together.” Every bit of power he repressed roared to the surface and the castle trembled raining dust into the cavern. Rose stilled and looked him in the eye. 

“Doctor,” the word filled the room with the scent of roses. She blinked and in her clenched hand was a vial which she threw against Davros chair. 

Rose grabbed his hand, her skin scorching hot as mist filled the room and the torches went out. 

“There’s only one way this will end,” he told her. 

“I know,” she answered. 

He wrapped her in his arms and plunged them down into the hole where Donna fell. He let go of anger, self-doubt, hatred, fear, and clung to the one thing that by some miracle had preserved and fortified him. The one word he never thought he’d know. Love. 

They hit water, sinking down and down. 

Cold leached into him as thick darkness blanketed them. They sank deeper, his breath burned in his lungs. He clung to Rose wrapping his arms around her waiting for the inevitable. Until Rose tightened her grip and the metal amulet under his jumper heated against his skin. 

Just as he opened his mouth to let loose whatever breath he had left, they fell from the water onto a stone floor. 

“I swear if I’m dead and I’m stuck in some prehistoric purgatory with the two of you, I’m going to kill both of you repeatedly until it’s over.”

He sat up. “Donna, you’re alive.” 

“Your rescue skills still need some work.” She said dryly.

“My rescue skills are excellent.” 

“God, I hate that part.” Rose groaned and sat up, rubbing her shoulder. She wrinkled her nose at the cold stone floor. “I had nice lily pads last time.” 

“Did she hit her head?” Donna asked, peering down at Rose. 

“No, the Doctor broke my fall. Feeling a bit puny from the whole lets hijack Rose for our evil power play plan though. Good thing I was prepared or we’d all be dead.”

“Your confidence in my abilities to defeat evil and save the world is astounding.” The Doctor brushed himself off, surveying their location.

“At least she plans.” 

The Doctor’s mood lightened at Donna’s critique. 

“Yeah, I’ve noticed he’s not one for planning.” Rose stood and stretched. “It might be a good idea to focus on Davros before his followers chuck him down here with us.” 

All three stared up at the liquid barrier, shimmering and hovering six feet over them. 

“I don’t want to be stuck down here with evil skeleton man,” Donna agreed. 

“This isn’t what happened to me the last time I took a dip in the well.” The Doctor pulled out his sonic wand waving it along the shimmering surface of liquid causing concentric waves.

“Right,” Rose nodded, shivering as she rubbed her palms together. “Time for a little conjuring old Earth style” 

“Agreed,” the Doctor pocketed his wand and flicked water off his coat a s Donna ducked away. “Apprentice, you’re about to make history. Davros had the right plan but wrong outcome.” The Doctor smiled, genuinely and with a hint of excitement. 

“We’re the key and the vessels.” Rose commented, staring upward.

“Have you both lost it? We can’t control this thing. I…I feel it and it’s like worms and I can’t.” 

“You can,” The Doctor grabbed her hand and Rose clasped his other hand. 

“We have to form a triad,” Rose pulled her amulet out of her pocket. “Donna, you and me are gonna share this. The Doctor’s got one Jack gave him. It’s what helped save me up there. Well, and the Doctor, he grounded me.” 

“Who’s Jack?” Donna gripped Rose’s hand and jumped. “That tingled.” 

“Jack’s known as the The Immortal. I’ll introduce you,” Rose confided. 

“Let’s not.” Yes, the Doctor whinged, his head pounding with the trouble Donna and Jack would get up to.

“It’s a flipping amazing idea! I like you. Do you like shopping?” Donna asked.

“Focus!” the Doctor groused as much as he enjoyed two of his favorite people bonding. Which was important but not over shopping, which he would not be dragged into. 

“The Doctor’s right. Even if he’s rude about it.” Rose attempted a glare even if her eyes shined with a bit more excitement, and the ever-present power that permeated both of them. “Donna, you’ve an incantation in your head that we need you to channel.”

“A dangerous one which we’ll discuss later,” the Doctor added. 

“You’ve come through a power well,” Rose explained. “The creepy crawly feeling is bioenergy that Davros wants. Both the Doctor and me were caught up in some sort of power geysers, if you want to look at that way. Except, we were alone and angry and emotional and couldn’t control it. We were sort of a conduit.”

“Which you’re not and I won’t let you be,” the Doctor insisted.

“What does that mean?” Donna asked. 

“It means people died when it happened to us. And we scare the Guilds.” Any lightness left Rose’s voice as the gravity of their fate sank in.

“Rose and I won’t let it happen to you, won’t let you suffer the after effects.” The Doctor squeezed Donna’s hand in comfort and affirmation. 

“I just wanted to help my family and you know get a full membership with all the perks. The Guild had good health insurance.”

The Doctor rolled his eyes before Rose intervened keeping them on task. 

“The Doctor and I are brimming with this bioforce, yeah. But it’s hard to control it on our own much less open this well. I’m thinking that tablet you found is the way to do it, but you can’t do it alone. Or be emotional and unfocused.”

“Rose and I will ground each other, try and guide it, while you focus on your memory of the tablet, those runes.”

“We’ll ground you too,” Rose added. “Don’t let go of our hands no matter what you feel or see.”

“Best close your eyes.” The Doctor wasn’t sure it was best, but he felt a compulsion to protect Donna as much as possible. Especially, if things went badly.

“Why close my eyes?” Donna asked but with a hint of fear. 

“I don’t want you to get sick on me.” Not the truth but anything else would scare her.

“Says my mentor, the great mage. And I’ll look if I wat to.” 

“You won’t want to,” Rose added. “Just keep thinking about your grandad and how much he loves you.” 

Donna nodded silently and the Doctor couldn’t help but look at Rose.

“I’m so glad I met you.” 

“Me too.” Rose’s soft look and smile shored up his determination to save both she and Donna.

“Stop it, both of you. We’re not dying. Now let’s end this. Something just hit the magic water.” A stone dropped to the ground. 

“He’s coming.” Rose’s desperate tone was all the push he needed to let go and be whatever he needed to be. 

“Please, forebearers, Earth magic, bioforce, blessing or whatever you are, give us this one, just this once.” He lifted Rose’s hand clasped in his and kissed her knuckles.

“I love you,” she said with tears trailing down her face and it was like a supernova exploded around them.

“Rose Tyler, I love you too.”

The world exploded around them and hurled them into The Blessing, the bioforce. What it was called didn’t matter. All that did was what pounded in and through the Doctor. His thoughts and memories whipped around his head until he latched onto one in particular. His father, a hand on his shoulder telling him one day, you’ll understand our heritage. The sun had pounded down as his father closed his eyes and raised a spring for a local farmer. 

Then his memory and thoughts slammed into that fateful day he’d summoned the well, the dead littering his land, his wails the only sound for miles as he stumbled away. Just as he thought he’d crack, he found himself in a current memory, Rose, opening her door, demanding biscuits. Finally, he landed in the one memory he clung to hardest, him and Rose, entwined in bed. 

Death begets life. And in the darkest hour, pain and loss brought hope. The same hope that welled in Rose and Donna. He latched onto them as time and space expanded and contracted, his skin heating and burning until death cackled in his ear. 

But he wasn’t afraid and wouldn’t give in to what it called. 

“End this.” The cycle that repeated, the infinity of Davros, his plans of destruction and domination. 

“Doctor.” Donnas mind trembled under the pressure.

“I see it,” Rose whispered, curling around him until through force of will the Blessing clamped the three together.

Symbols in Donna’s head coalesced into an incantation. Not just simple words or symbols but three-dimensional runes floating in their minds. 

“Fantastic,” he thought as the three of them focused together, thinking, no more, let the world continue as is. 

A pop sounded and his eyes slipped open a crack. Floating in nothingness and yet existing in a state of moving time, spinning around them like they were the eye of a storm. He found Rose, eyes glinting gold watching him. 

Hovering over her hand was a ball of light, blue and so bright he might die from the power of it. She shook her head and smiled as they were enveloped in pure energy, her light merging with his darkness, opposites, the two halves that created balance. 

Donna remained neutral between them as together the cleansed those who tried to tear and rip at the power around them. It seemed simple, yet there would be a price to pay. One which he realized, he’d gladly pay for Rose, Donna and the world he loved. 

Soon the silence was broken by the shattering of the white point crystal Rose wore on her neck and a screeching and roaring sound. Blue flames burst around them until pain ripped through his chest. The last thing he heard was Rose and Donna screaming.


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Full admit there's lots of angst in the beginning but I promise this has a happy ending.
> 
> I'm so glad people enjoyed this story. I really had fun writing it. And I was sad ending it and decided I wasn't ready to let these characters go. I'm working on outlining a sequel to tie up some loose ends and explore the repercussions of what happened in this world and to my bebes who suffered and saved the world but at a cost.
> 
> It will probably be months before I'll get it outlined and together so stay tuned for The Guild Wars.
> 
> Again, big hugs and virtual cookies to all who read, kudoed, commented and enjoyed my fic. Hope you all have a much easier end of summer than it started.

Rose awakened, dripping and freezing as rain poured down in buckets. Everything hurt. Her mind was so muddled all she could feel was cold, wet, pain. 

She rolled over and winced as rain stung her face. Something hard dug into the palm of her still clenched hand. She pried her fingers open to find her Gaia Talisman, partly burned into her skin. 

Through the ache in her temples, she knew she was missing something. With a hiss of breath, she sat up to try and clear he remind. A sharp pain shot up her leg until Rose cried out garbled curses. The amulet plopped into the muddy grass beside her as she rubbed at her leg. 

And then reality seemed to seep past the confused fog. Skaro, Davros, Donna… 

“Doctor!” she rasped his name and looked around. 

Nothing. There was no one but her and…a cemetery. The symbolism tore at her heart. 

“No, please no.” She picked up the amulet again and pocketed in her drenched leather jacket. 

Pushing past aches and stiff muscles, she tried to climb onto her knees, panting at the hot poker like pain lancing up body. 

“Got to get up.” Shaking and sucking in air, she stood, bent over at the waist trying not to vomit, before looking over at what remained of a castle. Not much. It looked like a bomb exploded shattering the structure leaving pieces of heavy stone landing everywhere, and the castle, not much more than a heap of rock. 

“No.” She struggled to walk, her trainers soaked and sinking into the soft ground. She stumbled and bounced off the low stone wall surrounding the cemetery until she had to stop to catch her breath. No sign of life. Alone. Tears poured out along with sobs. She was so alone.

Rose didn’t know how long she sat against the rough stone wall. Rain turned into a bitter wind as she tried to dip into her magic, seeking out any life nearby. But Rose couldn’t seem to get past her own trauma, and fear. Magic overload, post magic distress disorder was a real thing for their kind. She needed a Doctor and he was missing.

Survival instincts kicked in with a decided Northern burr chastising her in her head. Rose needed to move not freeze to death. Her friends needed her. One attempt to stand up again left her back in the mud, fingers, sinking into the Earth. 

Jack appeared like a hero, long coat billowing in the wind. He wrapped the coat around her and knelt, cupping her face. 

“It’s over. The Guilds are sending people here to investigate. We need to get you out of here before they arrive.” 

“The Doctor and Donna,” Rose choked out. 

“We’re looking for them.” 

“I can’t leave them,” she gripped the coat he draped around her shoulders. 

“You’re freezing. Long life force or not, you can still get sick.” He picked her up bridal style. 

“It’s been years since I got to practice chivalry,” he teased. 

Rose wanted to fight but exhaustion and bone aching chill sucked away energy. 

“We were together, the three of us. Davros tossed us into the well and we fell.” 

“And the three of you stopped him and saved the world. That doesn’t happen without a cost. You know that as much as I do.” 

“Not them, please not them.” Rose rested her head on his shoulder, sobs shaking her body. “I don’t’ want to be alone. I…need him, Jack.” 

“I’m getting a little wounded here,” he said lightly. “I know I’m not the Doctor, but you won’t be alone. I won’t allow it. And you promised The Immortal here, that you’d be here for me too.” 

She nodded, barely able to talk. 

“You need warm clothes, a bed and whiskey.” 

A shout rang out as he carried her to where Ianto, surrounded by groups of people dressed in black gear, stared at a tablet shouting into his mobile. “Say again?” 

“Oi! Cold, battered woman who needs a loo down here!” 

“Donna!” The first light moment of Rose’s day. 

Jack set her down under a tented command post where people had maps spread out. Jack huddled near Ianto. 

“Where is she?” he asked. 

“An old well. One of our teams heard shouting.” Ianto reported.

“That would be Donna Noble,” Rose said, the first hint of a smile. “She’s a fighter.” 

“Watch it commando boy!” Donna’s voice rang out strong through the radio. Relief filled Rose. 

“She’s suffering from hypothermia but appears…angry,” Ianto noted, wincing as more shouting could be heard through his earpiece. 

“Tell her you’ve got me here,” Rose insisted, wanting to offer Donna some comfort. 

“Riley, please inform Miss Noble we have Miss Tyler and she’s eager to see her.” 

A few minutes passed as Jack, shoved a mug of tea into her hands. 

“We really need to move you out of here. I don’t think you’re up to the barrage of questions coming.” 

“I thought they blew up the Guilds,” Rose sipped the tea which had a lot more than tea in it, as she tried to make sense of what happened. 

An emptiness carved deep in her chest. She was too aware of an absence of the Doctor’s presence. She’d grown so used to his energy mixing with hers. Only a few days yet it felt like years. 

“Hundreds died,” Jack quietly confided. “Many of the high councils. They had to regroup, new leaders emerged and maybe for the good of us all.” 

“I doubt for me or for—” She couldn’t finish the sentence, her eyes burning with tears and her hand trembled slightly. Jack steadied her. 

“They’re on their way. Miss Noble refused medical attention until she sees Rose.” Ianto announced, bringing another blanket to wrap around Rose. Despite a chill that couldn’t be solved by blankets, Rose felt her a smile emerge. She accomplished the one thing she set out to. Save Donna. Wilf would have his granddaughter back.

Donna limped into the tent on the arm of one of Jack’s burly guards. 

“Thank every star in the sky and a few earthbound deities.” Squishing and shaking, she collapsed next tot Rose. “Are you okay? Have you seen him?” 

Rose shook her head and the two women clung together. Rose felt a spark of familiarity holding Donna. 

“I’m bloody freezing. And I…I have questions.” 

“Not sure I have answers.” Rose answered as Ianto shoved a steaming mug into Donna’s hands.

“Answers can happen somewhere warm where both of you can get medical care,” Jack lectured.

“Well, Captain, I have questions I need answered now,” Kate Stewart appeared, bundled up in thermal coat along with two more mages. 

“Rose and Donna are under my protection,” Jack assured. “Given what happened, it’s best we keep this neutral. This isn’t the time for a power play.” 

“Power is at the heart of this issue,” Kate responded, a cutting chill to her voice. “Donna Noble and the Doctor are Guild affiliated and fall under my jurisdiction. We’ll deal with the issue of Rose Tyler separately.” 

“I’m not Guild anything,” Donna launched up. “My family isn’t recognized and my only connection is with the Doctor.” 

“You’re his illegal apprentice. That gives us jurisdiction.” 

“Illegal ha! I think you’ll find I’m not recognized,” Donna said with swagger. “I’m just his assistant and not a paid one. Don’t even have Guild credentials, not that I didn’t ask. You rejected me. So I’ll be with Rose in the unaffiliated corner and with Captain Hawtness over here who showed up and offered help. Unlike the Mage Guild.” 

“Donna’s right,” Rose quietly inserted. “She’s not with the Mage Guild despite her connection with the Doctor. The only thing you’ve got is his affiliation and he’s—” Her voice hitched and she looked down into her tea. “He’s not here.” 

“Where is he?” Kate demanded. 

“We don’t know. The castle is rubble. It was a miracle we found these two.” Jack moved bodily beside Rose his intent as her protector made clear.

“I demand to know what happened. In detail,” Kate continued here barrage until Rose couldn’t take it. She rose up, the blankets falling to pool around her. 

“I’ll tell you what happened. The Guilds failed the one task that should have united you. You did nothing to stop the Skaros, and that’s at least three times now. One of you knew what Donna was doing and let the Skaros know. There’s no other way they would have known. And you did nothing like the two other times this happened in the past century. You let the Doctor handle it with his family back in the 40s. Then me in the woods four years ago. And now again, the three of us here had to stop the Skaros. You didn’t stop them. We did.” 

“I won’t be judged by you.” Kate tried her best superior mage tone.

“No, you’ll be judged by your Guild and the families of those who died. We know the Skaros did it. Davros regained his power because you lot didn’t keep watch. You pretended he was gone. But he came back and now the Doctor is gone.” 

“Rose,” Jack placed a hand on her shoulder and she shrugged it off. 

“No, Kate wants to know the truth.” 

“I do.” For the first time, Rose heard a sliver of emotion and she remembered the Doctor mentioning Kate was the daughter of his friend. Trying to hold together a Guild ripe with corruption might have made this mage hard and defensive. It was still no excuse. 

“The Doctor and I found Donna being held by the Skaros. Here, at the Doctor’s family home. Here, where the Doctor knew there was a well of biopower accessible to anyone who could tap into. 

“But Donna didn’t have the know-how. She’d seen the runes, the spell to tap into that power but she didn’t’ understand it. They incantation was in her head but she needed a key to work it, unlock the runes to channel the power. That was me. The Doctor was the other component because he fell into this well once before, he was a conduit like me. 

“That would have killed you all,” Kate said with slightest uneasiness in her voice.

“Yeah, too bad your Guild didn’t think of how rough it was after what the Skaros did to me. The only good that came of it was, I had time to work through what happened. So did the Doctor. The Skaros thought that we’d marinated in power long enough. With a good dose of guilt and suffering, they thought it made us ready for their evil manipulation, to funnel power through us to them. But they got it wrong. We had the guts to say no and the three of us to stood against them, no matter the cost.” 

“The cost is out there,” Jack inclined his head. “This land is saturated with what came from that well. You can see it already. It’s devouring the castle. In hours, this place will be nothing but wilderness. It needs to be sealed.” 

“The guild will see to it,” Kate said somberly. “And I am sorry for the cost.” 

“I don’t want what this thing is, Kate. I never did.,” Rose emphasized. “I came to save Donna. I’m sorry for all the Guilds lost but we I lost something too.” The toll of this day weighed down on Rose until she wasn’t sure she wouldn’t fall down at Kate’s feet. And that was something she would rather burn than do.

“Thank you for being honest,” Kate said with a slight smile. “You’re right. The Guild did nothing and suffered from corruption and overconfidence. It shouldn’t have come to this to force change. I’m sorry for how you were treated by the Guild. How I treated you based on accusation more than proof. I can’t promise we won’t have questions or watch you. You’re an unknown, someone we don’t understand and that power…would be destructive in the wrong hands.” 

“This is so typical and just like you did with my gramps,” Donna lamented. “Rose saves us, fights off evil twice and all you can do is suggest she’s part of it.” 

“She is,” Kate countered. “Whether she wants to be or not. It’s part of her. And I don’t’ envy Rose this burden. I don’t condemn her either and that will be my recommendation to the new Guild Council. I’m afraid that’s all I can say. The Guild will, of course, call for her eventual testimony. All Guilds will. I have no doubt.” 

“Rose has nothing to do with the attack on your Guilds,” Jack remained adamant. “Both she and the Doctor were in my home and I’ll send witness testimony if necessary.” 

“I didn’t either. I was to busy being held captieve.” Donna spoke up sounding tired, and Rose couldn’t blame her. 

“And that’s where this ends,” Jack asserted. “Feel free to investigate the castle all you want. I’m taking Donna and Rose out of here to receive medical care.” Kate and Jack exchanged a long stare until Rose had enough. 

“Stop it! People have died. The Doctor is missing.” And then all the fight drained. “God, he’s missing.” Donna wrapped her arms around her and Rose rested her head on the other woman’s shoulder. 

“We’ll find him.” Donna promised but Rose wasn’t so sure. 

“They’ll be in Calufrax Minor if you need anything further.” And in a woosh of air, Rose and Donna were transported away, falling to the floor in Jack’s home. 

Immediately, several people whisked them away to a hot bath, peppering them with medical questions and plying them with tea, natural remedies and bundling them into a bed. 

Rose couldn’t sleep and wandered to the next room where Donna similarly was awake. She crawled into bed with her. 

“Do you think—” Donn started but didn’t finish. 

“Did you call Wilf?” Rose distracted. 

“Yeah, grandad, he was a bit lecturey. And asked about you and the Doctor.” 

“He’s quite something your grandad. Make him tell you about your family. He’s not big on revealing much and you need to know more.” 

Donna, turned to her side on the pile of pillows and looked at Rose who tried to smile. 

“He said you found me with the family medallion but it hurt you. He feels terrible and wants to apologize.” 

“You have a lot of ancestors connected to it. They helped me find you. And the Doctor and Jack, we were a team effort. I was really all of us. The Doctor felt guilty this happened, the Doctor.” 

“You and him were—” Again, Donna, the most outspoken person Rose knew seemed unwilling to name it. 

“Yeah, was hoping after this we’d get time to actually do more than run around trying to stop the end of the world. But I’m glad we did and so happy to have found you. You’re special Donna.” 

“Me, I’m just a useless book witch,” she said in a down voice. 

“No, you’re not,” Rose insisted and sat up, determined to make sure Donna understood. “The Doctor wouldn’t have taken you on if you weren’t brilliant. You found the tablet such as it was. It’s the Guild that failed They should have helped and listened instead of stuck up their noses against your family. You just needed a little help and protection.” 

“I was so excited to do something for Gramps, give him a bit of spark back.” Donna paused and stared blankly. “But look how it ended. It hurts my head to think about the tablet or the well. Still not sure what we did.” She tugged the blankets up around her.

“We stopped them from using us and remaking the world. Stopped their evil.” Rose looked at Donna still staring across the room and knew the boiling emotions she fought. She slipped her hand into Donna’s. 

“You’ve been touched by The Blessing. It’ll be with you forever even if you don’t understand it. Just remember, you lived Donna Noble.” 

“Every time I close my eyes, I can hear that cult screaming.” Donna whispered. Rose curled up to her side and the two women held each other. 

“It gets better,” Rose promised. Hours later they finally found rest.

-0-0-0-0-

“We never found any sign of him,” Jack told them at breakfast or lunch really. “I’ve tried everything I know.” 

“Sounds like what happened to Donna. Like he’s hidden.” 

“Is that what they did to me?” she asked, picking at the English fry up Ianto brought them. 

“He could be still falling,” Jack quietly mentioned. “Time and space are kind of wonky in that type of natural magic. 

“Or he’s not coming back,” Rose admitted and the words burned in her throat. “I know he felt like he’d lived too long.” 

“He’d never give up,” Donna asserted, the first liveliness they’d gotten out of her. 

“Please seventy-six years is a drop in the bucket.” 

“Seventy-six years!” Donna exclaimed. 

“The Blessing has side effects,” Jack answered, leaving Donna still gaping and looking at Rose. 

“For you?” Donna asked Rose.

Rose shrugged. She had no idea. Jack said he could sense it in her, a longevity he’d only seen in the magic kind of old. Not like him, but more a servant of the natural source of power on Earth. The Pythia would call her a disciple of nature, a protector spirit charged with a sacred duty.

“And I’ve gotten whammied too,” Donna asked. “Well isn’t that wizard.” 

“I’d say you’ve been blessed, maybe not like Rose here, but you definitely have the residual effects.” Jack added eyeing Donna with a flirtatious smile.

“I get to watch my friends die.” Donna said softly.

“Well you’re a barrel of laughs,” Jack teased. “You know we’re an elite club. Sometimes there’s perks.” He winked as Ianto poured coffee and smiled, sashaying with a bit of swag out of the room. 

“The Doctor didn’t think so.” Rose stated morosely. 

“Until he met you and then he saw.” Jack softly said. “Have a little faith. It’s brought Ianto I and together over and over again.” 

“And Davros,” Rose reminded. 

“He can come back? I thought we sorted him.” Donna exclaimed as she banged down her mug of tea.

“He’s sorted for now,” Jack softly admitted. “We found a body this time.” 

Rose didn’t want to hear more. She stood up. 

“I need to get home.” 

“You sure?” A hint of concern laced Donnas’ voice. 

“The Guilds won’t bother me. They’ve got bigger problems. And even if they try, this time, I know who and what I am.” Emptiness carved a hole where her heart should be. She knew because of the Doctor. 

“You don’t have to rush off. Stay as long as you want. Both of you. At least until the Guilds finish fighting it out over blame and politically realigning.” Jack’s suggestion was tempting.

He’d always offered to give her sanctuary. Tempting, but she longed for her garden. Her heart was heavy with grief for the Doctor and she knew the garden was the only place she’d be able to find any peace. But she also felt responsibility for Donna. The two were bonded under horrific circumstances. But still, they were both a part of something greater now.

“Donna, you should stay, let Jack help you sort out the Mage Guild. Then go home to your granddad. He needs you too. Then maybe come see me. Might need a librarian in Powell. One who doesn’t mind a little special research for those not affiliated with the Guilds.” 

“Get in line,” Jack teased. “I need an archivist myself. Got a few trinkets I need help organizing.” 

“Stop it, both of you.” But Donna's face softened. “Are you sure you’re okay, to go back to Powell I mean?” 

“I’m always okay.” Rose said tonelessly.” 

“Take K-9 and that’s not a request. I’ll feel better knowing you’ve got him. I don’t want the Guild to get their hands on him.” Donna insisted.

Rose’s throat constricted and tears threatened thinking about the Doctor’s dog. The Doctor who told K-9 to go with Rose as if he knew he wouldn’t come back. Rose wondered if he did.

“We’ll deal with the Guilds,” Jack assured. 

“K-9 is coming home with me,” Rose agreed in a stronger voice than she felt. “The Doctor left instructions before we--” Rose couldn’t finish. She was losing her ability to pretend everything was all right.

“Then that’s settled,” Donna sat up, looking in better shape than Rose. “And I appreciate your offer, Jack, but I need to set the Mages straight on a few things. Like buggering off from my family and letting grandad retire with dignity. I just helped take down their enemy. The owe me.” 

“That’s the spirit!” Jack agreed as Rose felt more and more tired. Happy for Donna, but weighed down. 

“Sounds like everything is on its way to being sorted. I’ll get K-9 then.” Rose took a step back, distancing herself. It wasn’t like she was an expert at that.

“I’ll give you a lift.” Jack said even as Donna circled around to wrap Rose in a hug which she returned, enjoying one last moment of comfort. 

“Thanks Jack, but I want to take the train. Need some time to think” Rose pulled away. Donna didn’t need a clingy reminder of what happened and Rose needed to make sure she showed Donna how to survive.

“I understand. I don’ like it but I understand. Call if you need anything. Even if it’s to vent. And remember, I still you we saved the world drinks.” 

Rose didn’t waste much time with goodbyes. She hated the long ones. She and Donna exchanged numbers and contact information. Jack loaded her up with her backpack filled with numerous items she didn’t ask for, but he told her they were for just in case. 

The train ride stretched into a mindless state for her, K-9 by her side. 

“K-9,” she began slowly after they’d passed two stops. “Any sign of the Doctor?”

“Negative, Mistress.” His red eyes seemed to dim and even his antennae tail seemed lower.

Rose nodded and patted him on his metal head before sitting back and watching the landscape speed by. She still wasn’t accepting he was gone. Rose jumped at anyone passing her seat. Part of her expected him to show up with biscuits and tea. 

Each time it wasn’t him, she felt loss. After a few changed trains and a taxi, she and K-9 arrived home. It was late afternoon and she was exhausted, and emotionally drained. Martha met her at the house pulling her into a hug after marveling at K-9. 

They didn’t talk. Rose didn’t ask how Martha how she knew Rose would be there. They sat in her garden, kittens Kohri and Noor curled up on her lap.

“There’s some shepherd’s pie from the Tooth and Claw for you to heat up. I’ll stop by in the morning.” 

Rose nodded. “Thank you for not asking for details.” 

“From what I’ve heard, I think you’ve been interrogated enough. I’m here if you need anything. No matter what or when, call me.” Martha slipped out, leaving Rose and K-9 watching the sun sink low plunging the garden into shadows. Fire flies soon appeared.

“Guess it’s just you and me now, K-9.” Rose stood up stretching out the kinks and soreness from her travels and trauma.

“Negative, Mistress.” 

Rose stopped mid-stretch, arms over her head. The cats hunched down shaking their hind ends until springing into the Rhododendrons. Hunting. Rose lowered her arms, her chest tight as once again, she prepared for battle. Fighting for the world was one thing. Invading her garden was a whole new level of pissing her off.

“How many, K-9?”

“One mage life form.”

“Fucking fantastic.” It wasn’t enough she lost the Doctor. Those arseholes had to invade her home and fuck but she was ready to teach them a lesson. Weariness shoved aside, Rose stood facing the shadowed paths and muted colors of her roses and the trees dripping low ready to conveniently trap intruders in their low hanging limbs.

Suddenly, music played, Moonlight Serenade, the haunting melody floating through her garden.

“Who are you?” she demanded, stepping around the table, one hand reaching for her amulet. “Show yourself Mage!”

“I’ve already shown you me.” The deep Northern burr rumbled until Rose could barely breathe or hope. “Interesting garden.” He stepped out the shadows. His tall, leather coat wearing presence filling the empty spot in her chest.

“Doctor,” Rose alternated between wanting to run and snog him, and worrying he wasn’t real or was some glamor the mages were using to get into her head.

“That’s me. Hello.” He wiggled his fingers in a wave, stopping a few feet away. “I missed you.”

“Yeah,” her voice cracked. “Jack found Donna and me and took his back to his place. We…we looked for you but you were gone.”

“I got a bit turned around coming out the other side. Funny thing that well. Tends to have a mind of its own. I was worried.” The Doctor stepped closer and still Rose couldn’t move.

“K-9, am I having a hallucination or do you see the Doctor in front of me?” she asked as one of her kittens climbed up his trousers. 

“Mage identified as The Doctor. Welcome home, Master.”

Tears wet her face and before Rose could analyze anything, she threw herself into his arms. Much to the outrage of a displaced kitten who scampered away.

“Easy, love, I’ve got you.” He crooned as Rose buried her nose in his neck.

“How?” She gasped, dropping to the ground as he slid one hand to the small of her back and took her right hand in his swaying to the music.

“I miss music you can dance to,” the Doctor moved her a step across the patio. “Not that gyrating nonsense, but proper sweep your partner around the garden moves.”

“You’ve always had the moves,” Rose agreed, breath hitching as she could scarcely believe he was there.

“So do you,” he answered and cradled her in his arms as they moved slowly, until Rose relaxed, one cheek pressed against this chest, enjoying the soft beat of Moonlight Serenade. Sort of perfect as the moon slowly climbed past the horizon.

“All I could think about was you, home, how much I wanted to make love to you in this garden, under the stars with surrounded by the scent of night blooming jasmine. Having tea and biscuits in the morning and fixing your extrapolater shielding which really needs another look.”

Rose giggled at him, so completely and utterly a mage and yet not. He was the Doctor and that’s all she needed him to be. Not an all-powerful anything. 

“You really should have mentioned your garden had a well tucked back behind the Forsythia. Bit of struggle squeezing out. Maddy was taunting me.”

That left Rose laughing and looking up at him, finding dancing blue eyes gazing down at her with so much love and lightness.

“You didn’t ask. And I warned you not to wander off the path. This garden grows wild and unpredictable sometimes. Never know what you’ll find.”

“Like an ex mage who loves you.”

Rose nodded struggling to talk.

“Donna’s sorted and I invited her to move to Powell to help out. Unless Jack hires here away,” Rose explained, her arms slipping beneath his coat, enjoying just swaying as the stars emerged in the sky. “The Guilds are busy rebuilding and bickering. And I could do with a cuddle.”

The buzz and whir of his wand sounded and the music stopped. Rose tipped her head up and met every ounce of affection he showed her.

“I want to live and love with you, Rose Tyler. If you’ll have me.”

“There’s no one else I’d rather be with you. In fact, after tumbling out of that well, I could use a Doctor. You up for it?”

“Rose Tyler, I’m up for anything as long as I’m with you.”

One long snog of happily ever after and the Doctor swept Rose into his arms and walked them into their home where they warded every room with love, shagging and a whole lot of magic.


End file.
